\[ **up: [[Zoology]] | [[Sea snails]]** ] --- # Common slipper limpet (*Crepidula fornicata*) > ‘*Crepidula fornicata* is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails and cup and saucer snails. It has many common names, including **common slipper shell**, **common Atlantic slippersnail**, **boat shell**, **quarterdeck shell**, **fornicating slipper snail**, **Atlantic slipper limpet** and it is in Britain as the “**common slipper limpet**”. ’[^1] --- > [[‘Slipper shells are sequential hermaphrodites that are first sexually mature as males and later transition to female.’]][^2] > [[‘Slipper shells are sequential hermaphrodites that are first sexually mature as males and later transition to female.’|‘Smaller, more mobile males join aggregations of larger animals to permanently associate and mate with. When given a choice, a substantial minority of males choose to associate with other males.’]][^3] [^1]: ‘*Crepidula fornicata*’, Wikipedia, last edited 17 August 2025, 11:58 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepidula_fornicata. [^2]: Julia D. Monk, et al., ‘[[Monk et al, ‘An Alternative Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour in Animals’, 2019|An Alternative Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour in Animals]]’, *Nature Ecology & Evolution*, vol. 3, no. 2 (December 2019), p. 1625. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1019-7. [^3]: Monk et al., ‘An Alternative Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour in Animals’, p. 1625.