Variegated Limpet

Cellana tramoserica

Description:

This is one of those spottings that made me smile, because this cluster of limpets looked like a town meeting, and it's something I'd never observed before. Cellana tramoserica, commonly known as "variegated limpet" and "common limpet", is a species of marine gastropod mollusc (sea snail) in the family Nacellidae, one of the families of true limpets. This marine species is native to Australia. It's an orange-brown-white coloured limpet with dark radiating stripes or crescent-shaped markings. Conical shell variable up to 35mm in height and up to 70mm long, with 30-40 strong radial ribs. Dense populations of limpets are important in controlling the growth of algae on many rock platforms because of the intensity of their grazing activity, and an extraordinary fact about these animals is they return to the same home spot after each feeding excursion, using chemical sensors to retrace their mucous trail home. That explains what I thought was a town meeting, but it wasn't a meeting at all - they were simply relaxing at home. PS: The last photo shows a battle-hardened warrior I spotted the following day, just around the point at North Avoca Beach. It looks very different to my Terrigal spotting. Also, the small checkered snails amongst the limpets are Morula marginalba, commonly known as "mulberry whelk".

Habitat:

This spotting was on a rock platform at Terrigal Haven, just below one of the headlands at Terrigal Beach on the NSW Central Coast. This section of rocks was a reasonable distance from the surf zone, or even the barnacle zone, but recent heavy seas sent massive waves surging across this entire platform and well into the haven itself, cleaning out all of the rock pools.