Gumboot Chiton

Gumboot Chiton

By Adam Kitzler and Niko Kruzel

Common Name:  Gumboot Chiton (and in more recent publications “the wandering meatloaf”)

Scientific Name: Cryptochiton stelleri

Size Range: Up to 13 inches (33cm) in length

Identifying features: Gumboot Chitons have an orange to yellow underside and their skin is normally dark. Unlike normal chitons the eight bony plates on its back are concealed. The Gumboot Chiton is the largest chiton in the world and has no eyes or tentacles; but sensory cells to help it navigate. It is very slow.

Habitat: Gumboot Chiton live on shallow rocks, where they can stick using there large foot so they don’t get swept off by the tide or large waves. They exist from the central coast of California up to Alaska, across the Aleutian Islands and down to southern Japan.

Food: Gumboot Chiton are herbivores and eat algae, sea lettuce and seaweed. They feed nocturnally with a radula.  The radula contains two rows of teeth that scrape the surface of rocks for algae, they resemble a sort of zipper.  The teeth of the radula are one of the hardest known materials produced by a living creature.