''Lottia persona'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a

true limpet The Patellogastropoda, common name true limpets and historically called the Docoglossa, are members of a major phylogenetic group of marine gastropods, treated by experts either as a clade or as a taxonomic order. The clade Patellogastropoda is ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lottiidae Lottiidae is a family (biology), family of sea snails, specifically true limpets, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Lottioidea and the clade Patellogastropoda (according to the Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocr ...

, one of the families of true limpets.

Description

''L. persona'' is a large, moderately tall limpet growing to up to fifty millimetres long. The apex is not central, being about one third of the way along the shell which is dark olive-green with fine white markings and has fine radial ribs, though these have often been smoothed down by erosion. The anterior slope is straight or slightly concave.

Distribution

''L. persona'' is found on the North American Pacific coast from

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

to central

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is a cryptic species, common to the high and mid-intertidal

zones Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

in sheltered rocky coasts. It is mostly found in crevices and caves and under overhangs. It is nocturnal, grazing on micro-algae when the rocks are wet.

References

Lottiidae Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Martin Rathke Gastropods described in 1833 {{lottiidae-stub