CLASSIFICATION •Phylum Mollusca, Class Amphineura or Polyplacophora HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION •Chitons are found worldwide. With the exception of a few deepwater species, most are limited to the middle intertidal zone and continental shelves. They may be exposed during low tides. •West Coast chitons are usually light sensitive and more likely to be found underneath rocks. FOOD •The chiton’s mouth is just ahead of its foot. •A radula, a kind of tongue composed of chitin and covered with rows of teeth, is used to scrape algae and diatoms off rocks. •Some chitons eat seaweed debris. They are nocturnal foragers. PREDATORS AND DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES •Chitons’ primary predators are sea stars. However, they are difficult prey to capture. They have a low silhouette and very efficient muscular foot. Additionally, their articulated plates allow them to roll up into a ball when disturbed. •The suction produced by a chiton has been said to equal to 70 pounds of pressure per square inch! •The largest chiton, the gumboot, lives off the west coast of the U.S. from Alaska to California as well as Japan. It may reach 13” in length, 5–6” in width. Its plates are completely covered by a thick reddish girdle. Imagine the suction its foot can exert! BEHAVIOR AND ADAPTATIONS •Chitons are flattened, mostly sedentary mollusks. •Their shells consist of 8 separate plates or valves that move against one another, allowing the chiton to conform to irregular hard surfaces. These plates are surrounded (or covered in the case of the gumboot chiton) by a tough, leathery border called a girdle. •Chitons use their strong muscular foot to maintain their grip on the rocks where they are usually found. •Many chitons have a “homing spot,” a depression in the rock to which they return when not foraging for food. REPRODUCTION •Sexes are separate in the chitons. •Fertilization occurs in most cases in the mantle cavity and eggs are laid in masses of jelly. •Free-swimming larvae hatch and swim for 15 minutes to 2 hours before they settle to the bottom. •After several metamorphoses over 10–12 days, they resemble the parent. TO NOTICE •Note the eight shell plates and explain their maneuverability. The chiton’s shell with its overlapping plates has been referred to as a “coat-of-mail” shell. •Part of the girdle tissue is visible surround the plates. •The chiton radula is similar to the abablone radula in this collection, though the chiton’s is shorter and has a different tooth configuration. •The radula of every species of mollusk that has this structure has distinctly different and measurable characteristics, and so is used for species identification.

Day 95 - Woops again, looks like I forgot to upload the photo again, Anyways it was an uneventful day since it was on and off rain. From drizzle to heavy. Did not get much done either. Altho the heavy rain will always remind me of this time around 5-6 years ago? It was when the rain was so heavy that the whitemud was shut down so that water can accumulate in it. I guess a friend of mine had no idea that they that was its other use. So I believe he drove past one of the do not enter signs, erected by the police, and drove his car right into the water. Effectively choking the engine and writing off the car. Wifey gets honorable mention here, as she was only foot steps away from home, when the rain came, and got drenched. I got smacked in the forehead by a golf ball sized piece of hail. And I tell you it felt like some major league baseball player hit me in the head with a a snowball. Moving on I printed a few of these off, it comes from team fortress 2, where one of the classes eats this to restore all of his health, where he can also toss it to other people where it gives them 120 health. I normally make sandviches like this, minus the olive ontop.