Limpet

“ Oyster-pickers were quite plentiful, and I quickly discovered that they might also aptly be termed limpet-pickers, for they seemed to take these shell fish as their staple food. The modus operandi of [Pg 76] feeding is to pounce down upon a rock which the receding tide has left bare, and with a single sharp blow with its beak, detach a limpet, and turning it mouth upward, pick out the fish at its leisure. If it failed to detach the limpet at once it would go on to another, knowing that when once disturbed the limpet requires great force to detach it. ”

“ In spite, therefore, of the peculiar wedge-like bill with its obtuse tip that seems so well adapted for striking a limpet or other shell-fish with a sudden blow from the rock to which it had been clinging, I am beginning to doubt whether they often use it in this way, and especially whether limpets are a special food of theirs. I remember, however, once seeing a sea-pie make just the sort of blow required on the theory, but ineffectively, and in a peculiar half-hearted way, as a man might feebly clench his fist and strike in his sleep. ”

“ In the limpet this reserve-ribbon is of great length, being nearly twice as long as the body, and the whole of it is exposed to view on simply removing the foot of the animal; nothing, then, can be easier than to extract the tongue of the common limpet. ”

“ On the British coast the limpet is used as an article of food and primitive man not only ate the mollusks but made a necklace by stringing the shells together. There are several hundred species of limpet-like shells and they are found in all parts of the world, especially on rocky shores. ”

“ BOYNDIE KITCHEN-MIDDEN.
“A remarkable fact,” says Edward, in his account of the Boyndie kitchen-midden, “and one not mentioned in any account of a similar place, is, that whilst some of the shells crumble to dust almost with the least touch, others are still so hard that they would require the fingers of a giant to pound them. The enamelling of some of the limpet and mussel shells is still as beautiful as almost to persuade one that the animal had been but newly taken out. On the other hand, some are so far gone and so soft, as to feel like a piece of wet blotsheet. ”

“ The ormer adheres to the rocks like the limpet tribe, but is seldom seen above low water-mark, like the limpet, who loves to be exposed to the sun and air twice a day.
The flesh of the ormer, when grilled, is something like a veal cutlet cooked in a fishy frying-pan, and I cannot say I was greatly enraptured with the uncommon univalve. ”

“ This morning was very fine, so much so that we landed without any difficulty at the bottom of the bay and spent our time very much to our satisfaction in collecting shells and plants. Of the former we found some very scarce and fine, particularly limpets; of several species of these we observed (as well as the shortness of our time would permit) that the limpet with a longish hole at the top of his shell is inhabited by an animal very different from that which has no such hole. ”

“ The same shell-fish, in contrast with the commoner Limpet of the rocks, affords another instance of the way in which [18] shells adapt their forms to their surroundings. In each case the shell is a plain conical cap, and the animal within keeps the shell firmly attached to the base on which it rests. The Limpet can move about at a very creditable snail's pace when it wishes to do so, and at low-water mark, when the tide is beginning to rise, you may easily find them moving about and off their guard ”

“ Another common method is to sit on a rock, motionless, and occasionally throw into the water pieces of limpet, or other shell-fish, keeping the spear under water until the bait is seized by a fish, when they are almost certain of striking it. ”

“ Yes, they have mouths and they live on seaweed, eating it by means of a long ribbon-like tongue covered with rows of hard teeth; the common limpet—which, as I have told you, lives on the British coast—has no fewer than one hundred and sixty rows, twelve teeth in a row. ”

“ How many does that make, Max?"
"Nineteen hundred and twenty," answered the lad after a moment's thought.
"Right," said his father. "The tongue when not in use, lies folded deep in the interior of the limpet."
"Are their shells pretty, papa?" Lulu asked.
"Those of some of the limpets of warmer climates are very beautiful," he answered; "large too. I have seen them on the western coast of South America, a foot wide; so large that they are often used as basins."
"Oh I'd like to have one!" she exclaimed. "Is it for their shells people try to pull them off the rocks?" ”

“ Food? Well, madam, in summer we were not so badly off; we had oatmeal and fish and a herring harvest. But in some icy winters, when we couldn't launch a boat, and when fishing from the rocks was useless, as the mullet refused to bite, we lived principally on oatmeal—often bad at the best,—and limpets that we gathered from the great black rocks when the tide was back. They are poor eating, but we gathered dulse from the boulders, roasted it with a red-hot poker, and ate it with the limpets. At every door you would have seen a large pile of empty limpet-shells, that told of the poverty within. ”

“ Here, too, we found huge heaps of the shells of a species of large limpet, shell middens showing that at one time a people existed in the locality, probably the strand looper, the beach-roaming forerunner of both Bushman and Hottentot. But except for the shells, no vestige of him remained, nor of the water that he at one time drank at, though probably a few feet dug in the sand might have laid that bare. ”

“ It is interesting to know something of the habits of the creatures whose forms we study, and we have already spoken of the snug little hiding-place that the Semi-transparent Limpet finds for itself in the tangle-root. It is of interest to remember that the Common Limpet, too, is a home-loving creature, which knows and prefers the spot of rock on which it habitually rests ”

“ In time this resting-place becomes hollowed out, and the Limpet's shell fits into the groove thus made.
Limpets are useful as bait for fish. The Whelk and Periwinkle are gathered in immense numbers, and are used by us for food. Perhaps you have seen the egg-bundle of the Whelk. It contains many eggs when first laid in the sea. Each egg is as big as a pin's head. They swell in the water, until the yellowish bundle is three times as large as the Whelk that laid it. You often see the empty bundle blown by the wind along the shore. ”

“ The average depth at which mollusks are found in any number is about one thousand fathoms. The variability of marine snails is so great that only a few typical forms can be mentioned.
The Limpet or Patella is a familiar mollusk to many visitors at the sea shore. This shell is a depressed, conical, oval disk, looking not unlike a miniature shield. They live on rocks, to which they tenaciously cling. Some experiments which were made on the English limpet several years ago showed that they could sustain a weight of thirty pounds attached to their shell without being pulled from the rock. ”

“ The limpet detaches itself from the rock and goes about in quest of food. Of shell-fish that are mobile, some are carnivorous and live on little fishes, as for instance, the purple murex-and there can be no doubt that the purple murex is carnivorous, as it is caught by a bait of fish ”

“ Other so-called limpets belong to separate families. Thus we have the Cup-and-Saucer Limpet and the Bonnet Limpet in the Calyptræidæ. Both these differ from Patella in that the apices of their shells show a tendency to assume a spiral form, thus denoting a somewhat closer relationship to the more advanced univalves. They have distinct heads, with prolonged muzzles, and well-formed antennæ and eyes. The teeth of the lingual ribbon are single, with dentated laterals on either side. ”

“ A striking instance of the comparative valuelessness of the shell alone as a primary basis of classification is furnished by the large number of cases in which a limpet-shaped shell is assumed by genera widely removed from one another in cardinal points of organisation. This form of shell occurs in the common limpet (Patellidae) , in Ancylus (Limnaeidae) , Hemitoma (Fissurellidae) , Cocculina (close to Trochidae) , Umbrella and Siphonaria (Opisthobranchiata) , while in many other cases the limpet form is nearly approached. ”

“ The limpet will return to the same sticking-place in its rock, and the lobster to its favorite nook on the sea-bottom. The rabbit will deposit its dung in the same corner; the bird makes its nest on the same bough. ”

“ However, a limpet is not gripping the rock all the time with such vigor; he would literally be tired to death, and starved to death, too, if he didn't ease up most of the time. It is only when he is alarmed by a touch that he clamps down. ”

“ But for all her observations she discovered little save that if you sit very still for a long time the limpet will begin to move sideways, and that it is almost impossible to sit very still for a long time and keep your attention fixed upon such a small object as a limpet without feeling slightly hypnotised and slightly sick. ”

“ You are well acquainted with Patella, the limpet: one species of this genus is very common on the rocks by the sea-side. (Plate 1.) In the Patella genus we lose sight of a spire; the shell is nearly conic, and shaped like a basin. The species are very numerous, exhibiting great variety of form ”

“ The custom of going limpeting on Good Friday still exists, but more for the sake of the fun of securing the limpet before he glues himself tight than for the sake of eating him when cooked, as no amount of boiling could make him palatable. ”

“ The Limnæidæ embrace the "Pond-snails," chief of whom is the well-known, high-spired Limnæa stagnalis. Other shells of this family associated with Limnæa are, however, very different in shape; for instance, Physa has its whorls turning to the left instead of to the right; Ancylus (Fig. 24) , or the freshwater limpet, is of course limpet-like; while Planorbis, or the "Coil-shell," is wound like a watch-spring.
5. The Auriculidæ includes both spiral shells, such as Auricula and Charychium, and a limpet-like one Siphonaria. ”

“ The cup and saucer limpet is not a very common creature, and in many parts of the coast it is never met with at all. But if you stay by the sea-side on the south coast of England, you may sometimes find its empty shell lying upon the shore. ”

“ On the grass, which they probe like starlings, one can get a pretty good sight of their actions, but not on the seashore. One thing I cannot help noticing, that whereas limpets are all about on the rocks and need no looking for, they walk about as if they were looking for something, and they leave the bare rock that is all stuck over with them for the parts that are covered with seaweed, and at this they pull and tweak. ”

“ For there are few people who are not familiar with the common Limpet of the shore between tide-marks, and with the great seaweed called Tangle, which has its habitat a little lower down, and forms great sea-meadows, whose upper limits alone are ever laid bare by the tide. The Patella pellucida, too, is fairly common, and the dead shell may be found on most rocky parts of our coast all the year round. ”

“ The shells of some animals are in form like little vessels, the valves of which they open to the breeze, and thus float on the surface of the waves; others, inclosed [Pg 88] in cases, which remind us of the diving-bell, lie hid in ocean’s caves; or occasionally descend to the very bottom of the sea. The limpet, in his conical dwelling, lives like a solitary hermit on the sea-coast: the pinna has a shell so large as to admit other guests: the chiton rolls himself up in the plaited folds of his armour, at the first approach of danger ”

“ II. 1, Common Limpet, old and young; 2, Semi-transparent Limpet, old and young (the remains of the young shell may be seen crowning the adult shell) ; 3, Common Yellow Periwinkle; 4, Common Edible Periwinkle; and 5, High-tide-mark Periwinkle, both with a sharp spire, for comparison. One specimen of the latter stands among group 3.
[20] Probably every reader will be able to appreciate the above instances of creatures adapted to their surroundings. ”

“ These animals cling to the rocks in the most wonderful way. Indeed, if you take hold of a big limpet between your fingers you will not be able to move it in the least, even if you pull at it and push at it as hard as you can. ”

“ Let us ask therefore, first, what kind of ideal form may be attributed to a limpet or an oyster, that is to say, whether all oysters do or do not come up to the entire notion or idea of an oyster. I apprehend that, although in respect of size, age, and kind of feeding, there may be some difference between them, yet of those which are of full size and healthy condition there will be found many which fulfil the conditions of an oyster in every respect, and that so perfectly, that we could not, by combining the features of two or more together, produce a more perfect oyster than any that we see. ”

“ These barnacles are frequently mistaken by the casual observer for young limpets, whereas, unlike the limpet, which moves freely from place to place in quest of vegetable diet, the moment the young barnacle settles to erect his limey habitation, he possesses a fixity of tenure which terminates only with his existence. ”