Sea Creatures

Blue Rayed Limpet

Presented by Ginny P6
 Introduction
• Oceans stretch from the north pole to the south
pole, all around the globe.

• They cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's

surface

• Oceans hold more than 300 million cubic miles of

water.

• Scattered through these great waters are many

sea creatures.
 Limpets are Molluscs
• The word mollusc means soft in Latin and describes the
soft bodies of these sea animals.

• The body of molluscs are all different but they normally

have a head with eyes, tentacles, a muscle foot and a
body containing organs.

• They often have a shell to protect their soft bodies.

• Molluscs found in the sea include the bivalve shells (like

scallops), sea snails, sea slugs and limpets.
 Blue Rayed Limpet
• If you look very
closely at a type of
seaweed called
oarweed you might
be lucky enough to
find the beautiful
blue rayed limpets.

• These limpets live in

small groups and
slowly chew their
way into seaweed.

Helcion pellucidium (Linnaeus)

 Oarweed
Frond (leaves)

Oarweed is a large
brown seaweed which
can grow up to 4m long.

It is also called
tangleweed.

DID YOU KNOW

Oarweed was at one time a popular food
in Scotland and Ireland.

Holdfast (Root)
 Blue Rayed Limpets on Oarweed

The limpet migrates

down to the oarweed
holdfast when it
grows older; its shell
becomes thicker and
the colours fade.

Photographer Peter Barfield Copyright Peter Barfield

 2 Different Types

1. The frond limpet is a transparent

shell covered in bright blue, broken
lines.

2. The shells of the holdfast limpets

are brown with less noticeable, blue
lines and reddish brown lines as
well.
Dark Brown Shell
Other information - Blue Ray Limpets

• Habitat
– Found on rocky shores

• Other Features
– Oval-shaped shell.
– Up to 2 cm in length
Eating Kelp
• Photographer Fiona Crouch Copyright Fiona Crouch
 Reproduction
• The female limpets lay their eggs. Male limpets
fertilize the eggs.

• The eggs are then carried away by the currents.

• The eggs hatches and is joined to plankton.

• At this stage, the larva is feeding on microscopic

algae.

• Later on in the year the larvae settle on the oarweed

and mature into adult limpets.
 Other Limpets
• When the tide is out most limpets
are clamped tightly to rocks.

• At high tide, though they go on

feeding trips and eat lots of
different seaweeds by using their
scraping tongue called a radula.

• Common limpets leave a slimy

trail to help them find their way
back home.

• Limpets are preyed on by birds,

crabs, starfish and whelks but
they are not completely
defenceless.

• If they are scared of a starfish, the

common limpet can raise its shell
Important Differences and rock from side to side
1. Ribbed, conical shell. sometimes suddenly smashing
2. Outer shell surface whitish-grey or fawn the edge of the shell down on
3. Inside is greenish blue or yellowish. their enemy.
4. Up to 7 cm in length.
• They live for 4-17 years.
 Where I got my information
1. http://www.utopie.it/seashorecentre/seashore_wildlife/molluscs.htm

2. http://www.flora.org.gg/Patpel2s.jpg

3. http://www.macduff-aquarium.org.uk/fishfinder/ff_kelp.html

4. http://www.offshorewindfarms.co.uk/Pages/Education/Life_around_the_turbines/Seaw
eeds/Oarweed/

5. http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/onine/livinglandscapes/kelp/oarweed.asp

6. http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-617-759-C

7. http://creationwiki.org/Limpet

8. http://www.medinavalleycentre.org.uk/field_studies_outdoor/resources_marine_biolo
gy_bembridge_marine_life.aspx