Mollusca · mollusks
Black leather chiton
Katharina tunicata
Mopaliidae · mopaliid chitonsIUCN: Not evaluated
A chiton whose eight shell plates are mostly covered by black skin.
Fun factChitons' teeth are capped with magnetite, a hard iron mineral.
- Waters
- North Pacific, Eastern Pacific
- Depth zone
- Intertidal shore
- Diet
- Algae (grazer)
- Size
- Up to 12 cm
Classification
Mollusca › Polyplacophora › Mopaliidae
- Kingdom Animalia animals
- Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
- Cells have no cell walls
- Most can move at some stage of life
- Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
- Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
- Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
- Includes about 99% of all living animal species
- Clade Protostomia protostomes
- In the embryo, the first opening usually becomes the mouth
- Main nerve cord runs along the belly (ventral)
- Includes mollusks, worms, and arthropods
- Clade Spiralia mollusks, worms & kin
- Embryos usually divide in a spiral pattern (spiral cleavage)
- Many have a swimming larva with a band of cilia (trochophore)
- Includes mollusks and segmented worms
- Phylum Mollusca mollusks
- Soft body with a muscular foot and a fold of tissue (mantle) that makes the shell
- Most have a rasping, tongue-like ribbon of teeth (radula)
- Includes snails, clams, octopuses, and chitons
- Class Polyplacophora chitons
- Chitons: shell of eight overlapping plates
- Flattened body that clamps to rock with a broad foot
- Teeth capped with an iron mineral (magnetite)
- Family Mopaliidae mopaliid chitons
- Chitons whose shell plates are partly covered by a leathery girdle
- Genus Katharina
- Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
- Species Katharina tunicata Black leather chiton