Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 00:21
CAT'S EYE
(Lunella smaragda).
This is the best known of all our shellfish of the inter-tidal rocks. It feeds on seaweeds and lives in the mid-tidal belt of the grape seaweed, Hormosira. It grows to over 2 in. in diameter, and the circular greenish operculum, the cat's eye, which closes the aperture, is its most conspicuous feature. The Maori name is ataata.
by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.