Calyptraea chinensis is a filter feeder, binding fine food particles with mucus.

Like all slipper limpets, this species is a protandrous hermaphrodite, but the stages of change from male to female have not been clearly defined.

The veliger stage is passed in capsules fixed to the substrate, and guarded under the shell of the parent.

These small snails can be found in the littoral and sublittoral zones along sheltered, rocky shores and on muddy or silty areas as long as they can cling to a hard substrate such as stones, living oysters [5] and other shells.

The species also occurs on the northern and western coasts of Britain and Ireland, but is absent from the North Sea and the English Channel.