Checkered Periwinkle
Littorina scutulata
Summary 2
Littorina scutulata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.
Description 3
Periwinkle with height decidedly greater than the diameter, spire usually has 4 whorls, Aperture is purplish inside but has no white band inside the aperture. Shell has no umbilicus, columella is narrow. Shell height to 1.5 cm, shell is dark brown, purple, or black, often with lighter bands or a checkerboard pattern of whitish areas.
Biology 4
Biology/Natural History: Lives lower on rocks than does L. planaxis. Migrates up and down rocks with the tide. Crawl out of tidepools at night, in during the day. Often hide at low tide in cracks or barnacle shells. Muscular waves of foot travel from front to rear (retrograde). The waves on the two sides of the foot are out of phase with one another (ditaxic). Feeds mainly on diatom films, microscopic algae, lichens, etc. Will also feed on Pelvetia, Ulva, other larger algae. Breeds in all seasons except summer. Eggs are laid underwater, individually packaged in flattened capsules within a sausage-shaped gelatinous mass coiled in a spiral and holding over 2000 eggs. Leptasterias hexactis feeds on this snail. Eye anatomy is similar to that of the land snail Helix aspera. In Oregon over 10% of individuals harbor parasitic flukes.
Sources and Credits
- (c) *Littorina_scutulata_2881.JPG: Walter Siegmund . *derivative work: Wsiegmund, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Littorina_scutulata_2881_cropped.jpg
- Adapted by Marisa Rafter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littorina_scutulata
- (c) Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/10457495
- (c) Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/10457497
