Feature Creature April 10

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Welcome to the feature creature page. Here you will find short articles on different marine creatures. A new article will be featured each month.

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CHITONS

This month our rockpool ramble looks at the curious case of chitons!

Chitons are a member of the Phylum Mollusca the same group which marine snails, octopus and sea slugs also belong (just to name a few). Although chitons look like land-dwelling slaters, they are in fact more closely related to the humble garden snail! Chitons have an oval body covered in eight overlapping plates surrounded by a skirt of tough flesh called the girdle. Both the plates and the girdle may be covered in spines, grooves or ridges in an assortment of colours.

Chitons are well adapted to live on the wave-swept surfaces of our rock platforms, attaching the muscular underside of their body to the rocks using a strong suction force. They can also be found hiding in deep crevices or under rocks where they won't dry out during low tide. Chitons move very slowly and are more active at dusk than during the day.

Most chitons are herbivorous, so to feed they use their radula, a tongue-like structure covered with microscopic teeth, to rasp off plant material off rocks.

There are only about 1000 chiton species known worldwide, with nearly one quarter of these found in Australia. See if you can spot one the next time you're on a rockpool ramble!

Written by Ivon Sebastian

Photographs by Ivon Sebastian & Chris Roberts

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