Crepidula fornicata (slipper limpet)
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Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Megagastrapoda
Family: Calyptraeidae
Accidentally introduced to this country in the 1880s with a consignment of American oysters, this mollusc has become widespread around the Essex coast and is seen as a pest to the local oyster fisheries as it competes for the same food source and also uses oysters as an attachment point which can lead to them becoming smothered. Although commonly known as a limpet it has little similarity to shore limpets. It does not move around in search of food but rather get it’s food by filtration by means of enlarged ciliated gills. C.fornicata forms chains of individuals with the largest and base individual being female and the smallest being male. The individual between these two are at stages between fully male and fully female. All C.fornicata begin life as males and go through this transition to female. The exception to this rule are those larvae that settle directly onto a rock or oyster shell for example become females without the preliminary male phase.
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