Periwinkle
Mollusca – Gastropoda
Distribution:
Various species of periwinkles – dark blue, black, brown or grey – live on rocks in the splash zone above the high tide mark. They can survive for long periods out of the water due to the horny, tight-fitting trap door, or operculum, which retains the moisture within the shell. Periwinkles graze mainly on microscopic algae and diatom films on rock surfaces.
Did you know?
Most periwinkles reproduce by releasing egg capsules into the water, which form planktonic larvae before settling on the reef.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds