Scutus breviculus

Scutus breviculus is a common herbivorous species of large sea snail or limpet with the common name shield shell or less commonly duck's bill limpet.[1] It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fissurellidae, the keyhole limpets and slit limpets.

Scutus breviculus
View of the anterior end of a live animal of Scutus breviculus out of the water
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:	Fissurelloidea
Family:	Fissurellidae
Subfamily:	Emarginullinae
Tribe:	Scutini
Genus:	Scutus
Subgenus:	Scutus
Species:	S. breviculus
Binomial name
Scutus breviculus Blainville, 1817
Synonyms
S. antipodes Montfort, 1810; Powell, 1979; Spencer & Willan, 1995 S. ambiguus Suter, 1913; Bucknill, 1924

Dorsal side of the shell, anterior end towards the right

Ventral side of the shell

Description

Like most in this genus the animal has a large muscular mantle, folds of which can completely cover the whitish shell, giving it a slug-like appearance. In S. breviculus the colour is a glossy dark almost jet black, as are the thick tentacles and snout. These inhabitants of the sub-littoral fringe shun light, clinging to the undersides of large rocks and boulders in a wide range of habitats, usually down to a depth of 20 metres.[2] At night they move around to feed, usually browsing on various alga such as Hormosira, or Ulva sp. in estuaries and harbours, often returning to the same bare scar in the rock in which they spent the previous day. This is sometimes referred to as 'homing behaviour'. An ancient food source for the Maori, who named it rori, a common name for a largish slug-like marine animal.

S. breviculus can grow up to 240mm in length and weigh over a kilogram.

Distribution

This species occurs in and around New Zealand, also across Southern Australia. It is notably absent from the Chatham Islands.[3]

References

1. Morton, J. & Miller, M., “The New Zealand Sea Shore”, Collins, Auckland NZ 1968
2. Cook, Steve De C., “New Zealand Coastal Marine Invertebrates Vol 1”, Canterbury University Press, NZ 2010, IBSN 978-1877257-60-5
3. Powell A. W. B. (1979). New Zealand Mollusca. William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1

Further reading

• Owen G. (1958). "Observations on the stomach and digestive gland of Scutus breviculus (Blainville)". Journal of Molluscan Studies 33(3): 103-114. abstract
• Tucker L. E. (15 December 1970). "Effects of external salinity on Scutus breviculus (Gastropoda, Prosobranchia) — II. Nerve conduction". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 37(4): 467-472. doi:10.1016/0010-406X(70)90093-9