Checkered Limpet Shell, Lottia strigatella

Strigate Limpet Shell, Lottia strigatella. Shell collected off the beach of Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2025. Size: 1.8 cm (0.7 inches) x 1.4 cm (0.6 inches) x 0.4 cm (0.2 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato.

Strigate Limpet Shell, Lottia strigatella. Shell collected off the beach of Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2025. Size: 2.0 cm (0.8 inches) x 1.7 cm (0.7 inches) x 0.5 cm (0.2 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato.

Strigate Limpet Shell, Lottia strigatella. Shell collected off the beach of Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2025. Size: 2.1 cm (0.8 inches) x 1.8 cm (0.7 inches) x 0.6 cm (0.2 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato.

Phylogeny: The Checkered Limpet, Lottia strigatella (P.P. Carpenter, 1864), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Lottidae Family of True Limpet Shells. The genus Lottia is one of fifteen genera in this family, and there are sixty-four species in this genus. They are also known as the Strigate Limpet Shell and in Mexico as Caracol Lapa.

Description:  Checkered Limpets have an oval profile and are moderately elevated, with a fairly smooth surface. The apex is often eroded. The exterior of the shell is marked with low radial ribs, and is irregularly, radially, striped in black and white. The stripes are often forked. The interior of the shell is glossy white to very light blue in color, with brown blotching toward the center and numerous black and white segments along the margins. Checkered Limpet Shells reach a maximum of 3.0 cm (1.2 inches) in length and 2.3 cm (0.9 inches) in height.

Habitat and Distribution: Checkered Limpets are found attached to rocks in the intertidal zone. They are a subtropical Eastern Pacific species that are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the coast of the mainland south of Mazatlán, Sonora, and north of Loreto, Baja California Sur, in the Sea of Cortez.

Ecology and Behavior: Checkered Limpets are grazers.  They consume diatoms and algae, which they scrape from the rock with their radula. In turn they are preyed upon by shorebirds, crabs, fish and sea stars. They are gonochoric and reproduce sexually, through broadcast spawning, with external fertilization. They reproduce during winter months. Checkered Limpets are known to host the Balani Parasitic Fungus, Pharcidia balani, which can cause pitting in the shell surface. From a conservation perspective the Checkered Limpet has not been formally evaluated. However, they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be considered to be of Least Concern.

Synonyms: Acmaea strigatella and Collisella strigatella.