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Rough keyhole limpet
Diodora aspera
48.1675, -123.708
Field Notes
Description:
The rough keyhole limpet, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Fissurellidae, the keyhole limpets. Characterized by the hole in the top of the shell. I was fortunate to find three of them in the tide pools. They often have a scaled polychaete worm Arctonoe vittata living inside its shell as a commensal. In the event that it is attacked by a starfish, it extends flaps of mantle to defend itself, and the worm also helps drive the predator away. If you look closely in pic 1 you can see a worm coming from the limpet.
Habitat:
Spotted in tide pools at Tongue Point. This species is native to the northeastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Mexico. It occurs in the lower part of the intertidal zone and the shallow sub-littoral, down to about 12 m (40 ft).
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