March 16th, 2010 
This is a new species of Bathyacmaea (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Patellogastropoda, Acmaeidae) currently under description by a japanese colleague. I have found hundreds of these individuals in my quantitative collections of chemoautotrophic communities at the Lau Basin hydrothermal vent fields. They reminded me of the Patella limpet I learned about in my undergrad inverts class.
Photos were taken by me with an Olympus digital camera. You can see the muscular foot in the center, head is on the left with its cephalic tentacles hanging out on the sides.
Broadcast Spawn!
