Patella (gastropod)

Patella are a herbivorous genus of sea snails limpets in the family Patellidae, further placed under the class Gastropoda. Primarily a marine based genus of prosobranch gastropods they most commonly live on coastal tidal shores in varying non tropical climates. As limpets under family Patellidae, they share sister taxa with 3 other accepted genus Cymbula, Helcion, and Scutellastra. Patella is characterized by their cup-shaped shell and gills, with their form of movement in waves.

The genus of Patella are geographically found around north eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean tidal beds. Surveys conducted over the 4 genus' habitat distribution show that Patella are generally the northern most genus with the other 3 distributing along south eastern Africa towards Asia. They tend to be subjected to high volumes of environmental stresses and therefore act as key indicator species for the tidal coast health in those regions. As such conservation efforts along coastal regions have marked many tidal ecosystems as Marine Protected Areas (MAPs), both in efforts of conserving Patella populations from overharvesting and monitoring coastal biodiversity.

Patella are important to keeping ecological balance of its habitats, through managing interactions with other organisms within its environment. The Patella genus is prone to marine pollution and is often used as a key genus upon research for marine biodiversity. Species such as Patella caerulea are used in bioindicator studies to understand ocean acidification and effects of climate change on oceans.