Thursday, July 16, 2015

Word of the day: limpet

The word of the day is limpet:

  1. any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, often browsing on rocks at the shoreline and adhering when disturbed. 
O.E. lempedu, from M.L. lampreda"limpet" (see lamprey) (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/limpet)


"The limpet Patella caerula is shaped like a Chinese straw hat."

 - Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History

No comments: