If you were to name a wild animal or plant that has shaped humanity, limpets probably wouldn’t be at the forefront of your thoughts. On coasts around the world, rocks and seawalls are peppered with the conical shells of limpets; molluscs from Fissurellidae, Patellidae, and Acmaeidae families. Although limpets are common most people don’t think of them of having importance. Being easy to collect when the tide is out and available throughout the year, limpets were vital as a food source for communities around the world. Ancient shell heaps reveal that limpets were often the main shellfish that people consumed. Limpets shaped human physiology and culture as transition to a seafood diet is associated with the evolution of humans from early hominids to Homo sapiens, and people could migrate and collect food as they travelled.
Intensification of collection of limpets on the Western Cape of South Africa changed seashore communities from being grazer-dominated to algal-dominated. In the Azores ‘lapa brava’ limpets (Patella aspera) were too popular as a food and can no longer be collected locally as populations cannot now sustain the numbers being harvested. While saving whales makes international headlines, saving limpets is a local concern.