Lottia persona is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

, a true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Lottiidae

Lottiidae

Lottiidae is a family of sea snails, specifically true limpets, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Lottioidea and the clade Patellogastropoda .- 2005 taxonomy :...

, one of the families of true limpets.

Description

L. persona is a large, moderately tall limpet growing to up to fifty millimetres long. The apex is not central, being about one third of the way along the shell which is dark olive-green with fine white markings and has fine radial ribs, though these have often been smoothed down by erosion. The anterior slope is straight or slightly concave.

Distribution

L. persona is found on the North American Pacific coast from Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 to central California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is a cryptic

Cryptic

Cryptic can refer to:* Crypsis, of animals that are difficult to observe* Cryptic crossword, a crossword with cryptic clues* Cryptic era, earliest period of the Earth* Cryptic, an album by Edge of Sanity* Cryptic Writings, an album by Megadeth...

 species, common to the high and mid-intertidal zones in sheltered rocky coasts. It is mostly found in crevices and caves and under overhangs. It is nocturnal, grazing on micro-algae when the rocks are wet.