Home > Invertebrates > Chitons

Updated 12/11/2020

Class Polyplacophora

Chitons

Chitons are primitive mollusks with a tough girdle surrounding eight interlocking plates.  They are algal grazers that return to a home 'scar' daily.  The group is well represented in temperate & cold seas.

 

HAWAII - ENDEMIC

Acanthochitona armata 

BRISTLED CHITON

 

Stenoplax petaloides   

LEAF CHITON


JAPAN

Liolophura japonica

JAPANESE CHITON   Hizaragai

 

 

NORTHEAST PACIFIC

Cryptochiton stelleri

GIANT or GUMBOOT CHITON

 

Katharina tunicata

BLACK CHITON or KATY

Mopalia ciliata

HAIRY CHITON

 

Mopalia spectabilis

RED-FLECKED CHITON

Tonicella lineata

LINED CHITON

 

Tonicella undocaerulea

BLUE-LINE CHITON

Lepidozona mertensii

MERTEN'S CHITON

 

Nuttallina californica

CALIFORNIA SPINY or NUTTALL'S CHITON