CREATURE IDENTIFIED: Freshwater Limpets | Black Water Update

Freshwater Limpets
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Pulmonata
Superorder: Basommatophora
Order: Hygrophila
Suborder: Branchiopulmonata
Infraorder: Acroloxoinei
Superfamily: Acroloxoidea
Family: Acroloxidae Thiele 1931

Infraorder: Planorboinei
Superfamily: Planorboidea
Family: Planorbidae Gray 1840
Source: Mollbase on

Chamber Limpet – Ferrissia (Pettancylus) clessiniana (Jickeli 1882)

Description: The chamber limpet has an oval shell with a blunt apex titled to the right (in contrary to the lake limpet (Acroloxus lacustris), whose apex is tilted to the left). The name chamber limpet is because the snail can build a septum in the rear part of the shell to protect against dryness. Later, shell growth will begin there again.

Dimensions: L: 3 – 4 mm; W: 1.4 – 1.7 mm; H: 0.8 – 1.2 mm. (Abbreviations). Occasionally, the shell length may amount to 6 mm.

Habitat and Distribution: Chamber limpets usually live in stagnant and slow moving waters rich in vegetation in depths of up to 1 m, where the snail lives under leaves and on stems of water plants. The chamber limpet tolerates hypertrophic conditions as the result of over-fertilisation and is also adapted to temporary drying-out (see above).

In Europe there are several species of chamber limpets, the division of which is not entirely clear. Basically it is assumed that chamber limpets are neozoa, which were introduced from North America (Walther, 2006, as Ferrissia fragilis) or North Africa (Kerney, 1999). Ferrissia clessiniana is assumed to be an autochtonous species in the Mediterranean and the Danube countries, evolved in those places.

Chamber limpets originally are distributed in North America, have been introduced to Europe and East Asia, where they have further distributed on their own. Ferrissia clessiniana is often confounded with the lake limpet (Acroloxus lacustris) because of their great external similarity. Therefore the assumption is that chamber limpets are more widely spread, than previously thought.

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