Patella vulgata, common name the common limpet or common European limpet[Gofas, S. (2014). Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140685 on 2014-10-29] This species occurs in the waters of Western Europe.
Radula
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.
Patella vulgata has been the focus of a range of scientific investigation, as far back as 1935.
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.[Webb, Jonathan. " Limpet teeth set new strength record" BBC News, 18 February 2015. ]
Human consumption
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.
One Irish proverb said that "Mussels are the food of kings, limpets are the food of peasants."
Tomas O'Crohan described eating them in his memoir
The Islandman.
They are also consumed in Asturias in Spain under the name "Llampares" and in Portugal under the name "Lapas".
See also
==Gallery==
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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.
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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.
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