Lottia scutum 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. scutum is a plate limpet. It grows to up to sixty millimetres long with a broad, flat shell. The apex is near the front and the anterior slope is smooth and convex with inconspicuous riblets. The colour varies from grey to tan with whitish spots and rays, and the head has golden brown cephalic tentacles which distinguishes it from other species.

Distribution

L. scutum is found on the Pacific coast of North America from the Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

 southwards to Point Conception

Point Conception

Point Conception is a headland along the Pacific coast of U.S. state of California, located in southwestern Santa Barbara County. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and the...

, California.