The limpet is like a snail in many ways, but it has one major difference – it does not have a coiled shell. The limpet shell is like a short cone with a broad base. The top of the shell comes to a point. Underneath the shell the limpet has a very soft fleshy body.

The limpet is well known for its power to grip to a rocky surface. It is able to do this because it has a an oval-shaped foot which acts as a sucker. It sticks to the rock and clamps the shell tightly to the rock.

A limpet has a place on a rock that is called its home. This is the place where the limpet stays when the tide is out. At high tide the limpet is covered with water and it loosens its grip on the rock and glides away to feed.

The limpet has a tongue which has a coating like sandpaper. It uses its tongue to scratch green slime (algae) off the rocks to eat.

As the tide goes out the limpet returns to its home. As the limpet returns to exactly the same place every time the rock becomes grooved where the shell is clamped to it. The shell in turn grows to fit the groove so that the fit between them is very tight and gives the limpet extra protection from predators. It also helps the limpet keep water in its shell when the tide is out. If the limpet could not stay moist in its shell it would die.

Limpets breed from autumn to spring. The eggs are released into the sea and the young spend their early lives floating in the water before they settle on a rock.