Description: This limpet is a pale pink, yellow or white with wide rays of pink to brown running from the apex of the shell to the outer edge. These rays may occasionally form a chequered pattern or at times the outer shell can be pure white. The head scar is white. The edge of the mantle is white with pink banding, and there are no tentacles.

Habitat: Found on boulders and stones on the lower shore. Seems to prefer surfaces with encrusting red algae. Reported down to depths of 100 m.

Distribution: Found on all coasts of Britain and Ireland.

Similar Species: Unlikely to be confused with any other species. There is also a common tortoiseshell limpet Testudinalia testundinalis.

Key Identification Features:

• Pale limpet with wide pink to brown bands.
• Edge of mantle white with pink banding.

Distribution Map from NBN: Tectura virginea at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Tectura virginea at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Tectura virginea

WoRMS: Tectura virginea at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Tectura virginea (O. F. Müller, 1776). AphiaID: 153552.

Classification: Biota; Animalia; Mollusca; Gastropoda; Patellogastropoda; Nacellida; Lottioidea; Lottiidae; Tecturinae; Tectura