Crepidula fornicata - a beast with three backs

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Crepidula fornicata - a beast with three backs by Alan Hughes as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Crepidula fornicata - a beast with three backs

Image: © Alan Hughes Taken: 24 Aug 2020

The common slipper limpet. Crepidula fornicata is a non-native species. The modern British population is known to have been introduced to Essex between 1887 and 1890 in association with oysters imported from North America. The species epithet fornicata was given by the naturalist Linnaeus, due to the arched form of the colony (fornix = arch in Latin). It may have also occurred to him that the creatures reproduce in a curious way. The species is protandric. Juveniles are males and individuals become rapidly hermaphrodites from the second year, and then are females during the rest of their life (10 years). Between males and females of the same stack, fecundation is direct.

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