Concharéu (Patella vulgata, var. Candei)
The concharéu is a large limpet (Patella vulgata var. Candei), abundant in the Selvagens but nearly extinct on Madeira. Its large, sharp-edged shell is used by fishermen and shearwater hunters to scrape pig skins.
This is the limpet that is abundant today in the Savage Islands (Selvagens) and is almost extinct on Madeira. It is so called by fishermen and by the shearwater hunter, who uses its shell, with its large size and sharp edges, to scrape pig skins. It serves the same purpose as the so-called pedra de porco ('pig stone': rough vesicular basalt used to scrape pig hides), a highly vesicular basalt pebble whose roughness also makes it suitable for scraping those animals. This limpet is shaped like a traveller's helmet, and its interior is often lined with a lovely egg-yolk yellow.