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 Polyplacophora - Chitons
The class polyplacophora consists of the chitons. The name
polyplacophora means many plates. The chiton's jointed shell
consist of eight plates. Most species are oval shaped.
Chitons have a single heart, a pair of kidneys, a simple
nervous system comprising two pairs of nerve cords that connect
near the mouth, and sense organs including eyes and chemosensory
organs.
They are important grazers on the rocky intertidal. They
feed using their radula to get food particles from seaweed and
rocks. The chiton makes a home scar ( home site ) on the rock
where it lives. The chiton uses magnetic orientation to pattern
a specific eating path. This way they have the ability to know
where they have already eaten and go to a new location. The shell
is covered with stiff hairs looking like a fringe of moss.
Mossy Chiton - Mopalia muscosa
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