The world's new strongest natural material: Limpet teeth Step aside, spider silk: the strongest material in the world can be found inside the mouths of rock-dwelling marine gastropods.

If you've ever been to the ocean, you've seen limpets: conical shells that seem glued to rocks and piers, almost impossible to pry loose. This is because they have a strong, muscular foot that can adhere to irregularities in the rock's surface. Combined with an adhesive mucus, this keeps the limpet from being washed away, and keeps moisture sealed inside its shell during low tide. RELATED ARTICLES Dress to kill in this synthetic spider silk outfit Spider silk spun into superior violin strings While clinging to the rock, the limpet uses a sort of "tongue" called a radula to feed. This is a long, chitinous ribbon, embedded with rows tiny sharp "teeth" that allow the limpet to scrape algae from the rock. And, according to new research, these teeth are the strongest natural material on Earth. "Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration for structures that have excellent mechanical properties. All the things we observe around us, such as trees, the shells of sea creatures and the limpet teeth studied in this work, have evolved to be effective at what they do," said study -READ MORE-http://www.cnet.com/news/the-worlds-new-strongest-material-limpet-chompers/