''Patella ulyssiponensis'',
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...
the rough limpet, or China limpet 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), ...
of
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 ...
Patellidae
Patellidae is a taxonomic family of true limpets, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Patelloidea.
(The superfamily Patelloidea should not be confused with the similar-sounding genus of true limpets '' Patelloida'' which is in the ...
, one of the families of true limpets.
Despite its common name, the China limpet is found throughout the Eastern North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Compared with the common limpet, ''
Patella vulgata
''Patella vulgata'', common name the common limpet or common European limpet is a species of sea snail. It is a typical true limpet; a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Patellidae, with gills.Gofas, S. (2014). Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 175 ...
'', the rough limpet has a similar shell (maximum size 50mm long x 40 mm wide x 20 mm high, apex closer to the front of the animal/ anterior than to the back/ posterior) but with radiating ridges that are finer and which alternate 1-ridge/ 3-ridges around the shell in a distinct pattern. The interior of the shell is often tinged orange towards its apex. The foot is a cream-orange color, and the dozens of pallial tentacles are translucent and colorless, arranged in two series of different sizes. No other characteristics of body structure or shell morphology distinguish it from ''P. vulgata'', to which it is otherwise identical.
Etymology
''Patella ulyssiponensis'' can be divided into the Latin words ''Patella'', meaning "little pan", and ''ulyssiponensis'', meaning "from
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
".
Description
Distribution
''Patella ulyssiponensis'' is found in the European Atlantic area north to the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
and also in the Mediterranean.
Uses
In
Madeira Island
Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of , including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2021, Madeira had a total population o ...
in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, ''Patella ulyssiponensis'', known locally as ''Lapa'', is eaten after cooking in a pan with garlic and lemon juice.
References
Gmelin, J.F. (1791) Vermes. In Gmelin J.F. (Ed.) Caroli a Linnaei Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Editio Decima Tertia, Aucta Reformata. Tome 1, Pars 6 (Vermes). G.E. Beer, Lipsiae [Leipzig], pp. 3021–3910
External links
Patellidae
Marine molluscs of Asia
Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Gastropods described in 1791
{{Patellidae-stub