page_title: Limpet
hierarchical_section_title: Limpet
caption_attribution_description: English: A group of common limpets (Patella vulgata) in Pembrokeshire, Wales
context_page_description: Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape and a strong, muscular foot. Although all limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, limpets are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups which are referred to as "limpets" have descended independently from different ancestral gastropods. This general category of conical shell is known as "patelliform". All members of the large and ancient marine clade Patellogastropoda are limpets. Within that clade, the members of the Patellidae family in particular are often referred to as "true limpets".
  Other groups, not in the same family, are also called limpets of one type or another, due to the similarity of their shells' shape. Examples include the Fissurellidae family, which is part of the Vetigastropoda clade and the Siphonariidae, which use a siphon to pump water over their gills.
  Some species of limpet live in fresh water, but these are the exception.
context_section_description: Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Although all limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, limpets are  polyphyletic, meaning  the various groups which are referred to as  "limpets" have descended independently from different ancestral gastropods. This general category of conical shell is known as "patelliform" (dish-shaped).  All members of the large and ancient marine clade Patellogastropoda are limpets. Within that clade, the members of the Patellidae family in particular are often referred to as "true limpets".
  Other groups, not in the same family, are also called limpets of one type or another, due to the similarity of their shells' shape. Examples include the Fissurellidae ("keyhole limpet") family, which is part of the Vetigastropoda clade (many other members of the Vetigastropoda do not have the morphology of limpets) and the Siphonariidae ("false limpets"), which use a siphon to pump water over their gills.
  Some species of limpet live in fresh water, but these are the exception.
caption: The true limpet species Patella vulgata on a rock surface in Wales
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