Slipper Limpet

Barry Yates
, 02 March 2020
Slipper Limpet

Along our Sussex beaches there are millions of shells of the Common Slipper Limpet - so named because the empty shell resembles a tiny slipper up to 50mm long. 

Slipper limpet 2

After storms you can find groups of the living animals all stacked up. These stacks have the largest and oldest Slipper Limpets at the bottom and these are female. The smaller shells on top are males. However, if the females die, the largest male will turn into a female - they are a "sequential hermaphrodite".  They can live at depths down to 70 metres.

Slipper limpet 3

They were first accidentally introduced from North America to Essex between about 1890 in association with oysters, and since then have become an invasive species that competes with native filter-feeding invertebrates for food and space and is considered a pest on commercial oyster and mussel beds. However, they are said to make good eating.

Slipper limpet 5

The Slipper Limpet’s scientific name is Crepidula fornicata  means ‘a small arched boot’ – Crepidula from ‘small boot’ in Latin and fornicata comes from the Latin word fornix, meaning arch. 

Slipper limpet 4

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Comments

  • Kay:

    Thank you so much – I see them empty frequently here in the Teign estuary and we have oyster and mussel beds; but today is the first time I found a stack – thanks google lens !

    28 Mar 2025 11:05:00

  • Morgan Woodland:

    Thanks for this info- I grew up in Worthing and spent a lot of time on the beach as a child- I liked these shells- called them ‘fairies’ cradles’. On a recent visit to Worthing I noticed huge numbers of the shells- far more than I remember from when I was a child .

    21 Oct 2025 18:25:00

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