Age, Growth, and Shell Morphometrics of the Limpet Cellana radiata (Born, 1778) From the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Abstract

A total of 341 Cellana radiata (Born 1778) limpets were randomly collected from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea for age, growth and shell morphometric determinations. The results show that the life span of this limpet may extend to five years. Collected limpets ranged in length from 6.9 to 38.5 mm and their shell and dry body weights ranged from 10 to 3530 mg and from 0.9 to 487 mg, respectively. The relationships of the length to shell width, height, width/height ratio, the ratio of the anterior distance from the apex to the anterior margin to that of the posterior distance, and the shell width to shell height relationship are all negatively allometric. The relative coefficient of condition (Kn) was higher (1.01-1.05) for long limpets than small ones (0.61-0.74).