| Calyptraea chinensis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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SW. Norway & British Isles (abundant) to Angola, Madeira to Mediterranean & Black Sea (uncommon). Some possible spots in southern Africa (Eastern Cape Province). Absent from the North Sea and the Pas-de-Calais. Lives attached to hard substrate (stones, rocks, shells) in sheltered areas with sand or muddy sand. Intertidal to ≈ 70m deep. Suspension feeder.
Original taxon: Patella chinensis.
30-40m deep, off Málaga, Andalucia, S. Spain. 24mm. |
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Young specimen from NE. Atlantic:
Inside a valve of Ruditapes philippinarum (Adams & Reeve, 1850); low tide, Saint-Malo, N. Brittany, NW. France. 5,5mm.
« Habitat: local but gregarious, in shelly and pebbly ground […]. I found some at Sark, living attached to small pebbles, each pebble having scarcely a broader surface than the circumference of the shell, which closely fitted the sinuosities of the stone. Both shell and pebble were encrusted by nullipore, and had the same appearance. The mark of adhesion is glossy, but does not show any excavation. » – J. G. Jeffreys: British conchology vol. III, London 1865. |
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| A specimen nested inside a Tapes rhomboides (Pennant, 1777) collected at extreme low tide, on remote sans banks in submerged coves among reefs, off Les Ébihens island, Pointe du Chevet, Saint-Jacut de la mer, N. Brittany. 13mm. |
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« Surface rough with short concave scales » – J. Fleming: History of British animals, Edinburgh 1828, via BHL. Synonyms: laevigata, muricata, spirata, squamulata…
30-40m deep, Málaga. 17-22mm. |
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| 20-50m deep, off Estepona, Málaga. 25,3mm. |
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| Cap d’Agde, S. France. 22mm. |
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| Beachstormed at extreme low tide, Les Rosaires, Plérin, St-Brieux area, N. Brittany. 10,5-14,5mm. |
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Left: Black Rocks, Jeffreys Bay Beach, Eastern Cape, South Africa; 27mm. Right: in shell grit, Marina Beach, Dyuni, Burgas, Bulgaria; 10mm. Original pictures provided by J. Trausel & F. Slieker, Nat. Hist. Museum Rotterdam (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). |
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| Juvenile collected in grit, Anse Bernardi, Port-Vendres, Eastern Pyrenees, S. France. 2,5mm. |
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| Same spot. 2,8mm. |
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| Cap Ras, Llançà, Girona, Catalunya, NE. Spain. 3,6mm. |
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| In the debris from the deck of a fishing boat at Sanyang, S. Gambia. 14mm. |
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| A specimen attached to a small chip of metasediment at the foot of Tournemire cliffs, western extremity of the Plage des Rosaires, Plérin, Saint-Brieuc, N. Brittany. 16mm. |
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| A young specimen inside a valve of Polititapes rhomboides (Pennant, 1777), Tengis-Malabata, Tanger, N. Morocco. 4mm. |
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| Inside a valve of Polititapes rhomboides var. “sarniensis”, off Bon Secours beach, Saint-Malo. 8mm. |
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| Ballyhenry Island, entrance of Strangford Lough, Down County, North Ireland. Original picture provided by J. Sigwart for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC). |
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| Inside a valve of mussel. Lanvéoc, Crozon Peninsula, W. Finistère, W. Brittany. Original picture provided by engelspaul for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC). |
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| 65m deep, in the channel of Brač island, Split-Dalmatia Comitat, S. Croatia. 18mm. Original picture provided by R. Stanić (HR) – (CC BY-NC-SA). |