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Wednesday, January 22, 2003 |
 A few weeks ago I came across a creepy rotting-flesh creature on Sculptured Beach (left) in Point Reyes, CA. I finally found out that it's a gum shoe chiton. The more I read, the more fascinated I became. Here are some gum shoe chiton facts you never knew you wanted to know (test at end):   There are over 600 different kinds of chitons, the sea cradle. It is closely related to snails. The gum shoe chiton is the largest, up to 13" with an internal skeleton of eight articulating plates (that curl up into almost a ball when threatened).  Other chitons have an external skeleton. It hangs onto rocks with its foot (that tongue-like thing), but can be dislodged easily and washed ashore during storms. This tongue-foot (radula) has many tiny teeth capped with the element magnetite--so much so that a magnet can pick it up. Its outer layer has 20 species of algae (also its main source of food), which give it its brick-red color. The gum shoe has few predators, except the lurid rock snail (what makes a rock snail lurid?). When exposed to air during low tide, the gumboot can breathe oxygen from the atmosphere.Sources/more info: Ed Ricketts Monterey Bay Aquarium 12:54:55 AM comment []  |
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