Limpet
A limpet is a usually marine gastropod mollusk with a broad, cone-shaped shell that clings tightly to rocks or other surfaces.
Radula: A ribbon of tiny teeth used by many mollusks to scrape or grasp food. A limpet scrapes algae from rock with its radula, whose teeth can contain exceptionally hard minerals.
Gastropoda: The mollusk class that includes snails, slugs, and their relatives. Limpets belong to Gastropoda, despite their shell's lack of the familiar spiral form.
Intertidal ecology: The study of organisms and interactions in habitats between high- and low-tide levels. Many limpets live in the intertidal zone, where tides alternately expose and submerge them.
True limpets: Patellogastropod gastropods that include many familiar limpets of rocky shores. They are the best-known limpets, but they are only one branch of gastropods with limpet-like shells.
Molluscan foot: A muscular organ that mollusks use for locomotion, attachment, or both. The limpet's broad foot creates suction and helps seal its body against the substrate.
Mollusca: The animal phylum containing gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods, and other soft-bodied animals. Limpets share the mantle, muscular foot, and other molluscan traits within this broader phylum.
Keystone species: A species whose ecological effects are disproportionately large relative to its abundance. Some limpet populations strongly affect algal cover and the structure of rocky-shore communities.
Keyhole limpet: A marine gastropod with a cap-shaped shell bearing an opening near its apex. Its shell opening distinguishes keyhole limpets from the solid cap of a typical true limpet.
Hydrodynamic adhesion: Attachment maintained by fluid pressure and a seal between an organism and a surface. Limpets resist wave forces by pressing their foot tightly against rock and reducing water entry.
Mantle: A tissue layer in mollusks that secretes the shell and often encloses the mantle cavity. The limpet's mantle produces its shell and helps form the space beneath it.