Tag Archives: molluscs

The sad tale of the hungry limpet

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by in coastal fauna, nature

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I never find many shells on the scrap of beach at the bottom of Penarth cliffs, though it’s a good place for dollops of seaglass and the very occasional fossil but, if I do manage to find any shells, they’re usually limpets, probably Common limpets (Patella vulgata).

Things I didn’t know about limpets until just now:
— they can live to the ripe old age of 16
— they are herbivores, feeding on the exceedingly tiny algae that cover the seaside rocks
— they have a tongue with teeth that are so sharp they can scrape the algae off the rocks like a file
— the ‘glue’ they use to attach their single foot to the rocks is so strong it can withstand a force of 75lbs per square inch
— well-fed less-stressed limpets produce flatter shells, whereas hungry limpets produce more dome-shaped shells, so the former inhabitant of the peachy coloured shell I picked up may well have died hungry!

‘The Snail’

02 Monday May 2016

Posted by in nature

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160502 snail (7)

To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall,
The snail sticks close, nor fears to fall,
As if he grew there, house and all
Together.

Within that house secure he hides,
When danger imminent betides
Of storm, or other harm besides
Of weather.

Give but his horns the slightest touch,
His self-collecting power is such,
He shrinks into his house, with much
Displeasure.

Where’er he dwells, he dwells alone,
Except himself has chattels none,
Well satisfied to be his own
Whole treasure.

Thus, hermit-like, his life he leads,
Nor partner of his banquet needs,
And if he meets one, only feeds
The faster.

Who seeks him must be worse than blind,
(He and his house are so combin’d)
If, finding it, he fails to find
Its master.

By William Cowper, 1731 – 1800

160502 snail (8)