Patella vulgata

The radula in this species is longer than the shell itself. It contains 1,920 teeth in 160 rows of 12 teeth each. Patella vulgata is found attached to firm substrates from the high shore to the edge of the sublittoral zone, although it predominates in areas of wave action. Its shell is conical, up to around 6 cm long, and lacks defined chirality. Common limpets are believed to be able to live for up to twenty years.{{cite web | url = http://britishseafishing.co.uk/limpets/ | title = Limpets | date = 15 October 2012 | publisher = BritishSeaFishing.co.uk | access-date = 24 January 2014}}

Patella vulgata has been the focus of a range of scientific investigation, as far back as 1935.{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=F|title=The Development of Patella vulgata|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences|year=1935|volume=225|issue=520|pages=95–125|doi=10.1098/rstb.1935.0008|doi-access=free|bibcode=1935RSPTB.225...95S}} Its development is well described{{cite journal|last=Damen|first=Peter|author2=Dictus, Wim J.A.G.|title=Cell Lineage of the Prototroch of Patella vulgata (Gastropoda, Mollusca)|journal=Developmental Biology|volume=162|issue=2|pages=364–383|doi=10.1006/dbio.1994.1094|pmid=8150201|year=1994}} and it has been the focus of transcriptomic investigation, providing a range of genomic sequence data in this species for analysis.{{cite journal|last=Werner|first=Gijsbert D. A.|author2=Gemmell, Patrick |author3=Grosser, Stefanie |author4=Hamer, Rebecca |author5= Shimeld, Sebastian M. |title=Analysis of a deep transcriptome from the mantle tissue of Patella vulgata Linnaeus (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Patellidae) reveals candidate biomineralising genes|journal=Marine Biotechnology|volume=15|issue=2|pages=230–243|doi=10.1007/s10126-012-9481-0|year=2013|pmid=22865210|bibcode=2013MarBt..15..230W |s2cid=1836313}}

Their teeth are the strongest natural material known. A study published in the Royal Society journal in 2015 concluded that "the tensile strength of limpet teeth can reach values significantly higher than spider silk, considered to be currently the strongest biological material, and only comparable to the strongest commercial carbon fibres." The material was able to withstand 4.9 GPa. This considerable tensile strength of limpet teeth is attributed to a high mineral volume fraction of reinforcing goethite nanofibres.{{cite journal |author1=Asa H. Barber |author2=Dun Lu |author3=Nicola M. Pugno |name-list-style=amp |title=Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth |journal=Journal of the Royal Society Interface |volume=12 |issue=105 |pages=20141326 |publisher=Royal Society journal |year=2015 |doi= 10.1098/rsif.2014.1326 |pmid=25694539 |pmc=4387522 }}Webb, Jonathan. "[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31500883 Limpet teeth set new strength record]" BBC News, 18 February 2015. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218190049/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31500883 |date=February 18, 2015 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/sea-snail-teeth-top-spider-silk-strongest-material-earth-n308506|title=Sea Snail Teeth Top Spider Silk as Strongest Material on Earth|website=NBC News|date=18 February 2015 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-31515625|title=Limpet teeth 'strongest material ever'|work=BBC News }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-31518545|title=Limpet teeth rewrite record books|work=BBC News }}

File:Patella vulgata broutage 3993.jpg

The common limpet was formerly eaten in Ireland, especially during times of hunger such as the Great Famine of 1845–50; it was known to be very tough and had to be thoroughly boiled or roasted to be edible.{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20070016.html|title=Enjoying a tasty treat from the salty sea|first=Damien|last=Enright|date=August 18, 2008|website=Irish Examiner}} One Irish proverb said that "Mussels are the food of kings, limpets are the food of peasants."{{Cite web|url=https://irishamerica.com/2011/02/slainte-alive-alive-oh/|title=Slainte! Alive, Alive-Oh! | Irish America|date=17 February 2011 }} Tomas O'Crohan described eating them in his memoir The Islandman.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5NCAwAAQBAJ&q=+%22food+of+peasants%22|title=The Islandman|first=Tomás Ó|last=Crohan|date=June 28, 1978|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-281233-9|via=Google Books}}

They are also consumed in Asturias in Spain under the name "Llampares" and in Portugal under the name "Lapas".

• Limpet

Patella vulgata Napfschnecke.jpg|Shells of the common limpet from Wales

Napfschnecke common-limpet patella vulgata.jpg|Patella vulgata in litoral of Finistère, near Porspoder - the region affected by the Amoco Cadiz tanker disaster in 1978

View on the animal of Patella vulgata.png|Drawing of the soft body and underside of the shell of Patella vulgata; a) foot b) fringed mantle c) tentacles d) mouth e) eyes f) gills

File:Napfschnecke4.jpg|Photograph of the soft body and underside

Radula of Patella vulgata.png|Radula of Patella vulgata; a) median teeth b) laterals c) uncini or marginals

Altamira Patella vulgata Édouard Harlé MHNT.PRE.20120.0.608.jpg|Remains of a human meal, limpet shells from Cantabrian Lower Magdalenian layer of the Altamira cave. - MHNT

Patella vulgata 2015-09-08 ag M0010161.jpg|Patella vulgata in its natural habitat.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/no_cache/dms/load/toc/?IDDOC=265100 Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. ii, 824 pp.]
• Lespinet, Nederbragt, Cassan, Dictus, Van Loon, et al. Characterisation of two snail genes in the gastropod mollusc Patella vulgata. Implications for understanding the ancestral function of the snail-related genes in Bilateria. 2002.

{{Commons category|Patella vulgata}}

• [http://eol.org/pages/401252/hierarchy_entries/58014747/details Entry] in Encyclopedia of Life
• [http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4050 MarLIN species information]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091008032442/http://www.arkive.org/common-limpet/patella-vulgata/ Live underwater image]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071013131022/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/factfiles/molluscs/limpet_bg.shtml BBC Info retrieved 2012]
• [http://www.theseashore.org.uk/theseashore/SpeciesPages/Limpets.jpg.html FSC Info- great pix Retrieved 2012]
• {{SealifePhotos|140685}}

{{Edible molluscs}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q182258}}

Category:Patellidae

Category:Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean

Category:Marine molluscs of Europe

Category:Gastropods described in 1758

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus