Virgin limpet
| Virgin limpet | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg)
Virgin limpet ( Tectura virginea ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Tectura virginea | ||||||||||||
| ( OV Müller , 1776) |
The virgin limpet ( Tectura virginea , Syn . : Acmaea virginea ) is a snail from the family of Acmaeidae from domestic waters. As with all "limpets", the bowl-like shape is striking. The adjective "virgin", on the other hand, indicates the pale pink color of this snail.
features
The fixed shell, up to 1.5 cm long, cup-shaped housing is oval when viewed from above (from above). The apex is relatively far ahead. The surface is almost completely smooth. Radial and growth strips are only weakly developed. Usually the color of the snail is white with a pink tinge, sometimes even slightly yellow. When the housings are washed up, the color has often already faded. The inside of the case is pink or white.
Geographical distribution and habitat
The virgin limpet is found in the coastal waters of the eastern North Atlantic from Norway to the Cape Verde Islands, including the North Sea and the Mediterranean. It lives there on hard floors, mussel shells and on stones in tidal pools that are covered with the red alga Lithoderma , from 0 to 120 m water depth.
Way of life
The animals graze on the crust-forming red algae Lithoderma .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tectura virginea (OF Müller, 1776) on marinespecies.org, accessed 11 October 2010
literature
- Rainer Willmann: Mussels and snails of the North and Baltic Seas. Neumann, Neudamm 1989, ISBN 3-7888-0555-2 .
- Philippe Bouchet, Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda. In: Malacologia. 47, pp. 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005 ISSN 0076-2997
