Black Foot ‘opihi

Cellana exarata

• Group: Other
• For divers: safe

This limpet grips bare rock right in the splash zone, where waves break and the surface dries out between sets. When the tide leaves it high, it can push water through its mantle cavity to keep breathing until the sea returns, and Hawaiians have long prized it as opihi.

Taxonomy: Animalia › Mollusca › Gastropoda › Nacellida › Nacellidae › Cellana

Species data via the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), AphiaID 325448.