Observations on Patella uulgata. Part III. Habitat and Habits

Summary

The inter-tidal habitats of the common limpet, Patella vulgata L,, have been investigated in relation to constant lunar tidal levels and tidal zones. The habitats of some common shore organisms which occur at approximately definite tidal levels or zones—and can therefore be used with discretion for zoning the habitats of Patella—are shown in a chart.

A study of the distribution of the common limpet on the shores of Devon and Cornwall has shown that limpets are absent or rare on those parts of the foreshore above high-water neaps which are subjected to prolonged periods of direct insolation. In the same locality limpets may be totally absent from the high-water region on cliff-faces or rocks facing southerly, but present on adjacent ones facing northerly or north-westerly. Strongly insolated habitats appear to be unviable as a result of the direct effect of the insolation on the animal, but the apparent deficiency of food in such habitats is probably also a limiting factor of importance.

The importance of the splash-line of any tidal level is emphasised. It is shown that in Devon and Cornwall the occurrence of low-water spring tides at about midday (and midnight) results in exposing to strong sunshine (and correlated factors) those regions of the shore above high-water neaps which face in a southerly direction. In other localities where high-water spring tides occur about midday, equivalent regions of the foreshore are not so strongly nor so persistently insolated as in the former.

Viable habitats may therefore occur in different regions on the shore in different localities or at different latitudes according to the local orientation of the substratum and local tidal phenomena.