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Acanthochitonidae chitons are found in a variety of marine habitats, including rocky intertidal zones, coral reefs, and seagrass beds. They are also found in deep sea environments, with some species occurring as deep as 3,000 meters. Acanthochitonidae chitons are known to be active grazers, feeding primarily on algae and detritus.
Like other chitons, it is a slow moving grazer that consumes several species of brown and red algae including kelps, sea lettuce, and encrusting diatoms. They're also known to eat sponges , tiny barnacles , spirobid polychaetes , and bryozoans .
It is a northeastern Pacific species which occurs from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California Mexico. [1] [2] [3] This species is found in the middle and lower intertidal zone on exposed rocky shores. Mopalia muscosa can be 40 to 55 mm (1.6 to 2.2 in) in length. Mossy chitons are often covered by algae, barnacles, and limpets.
Chitons are generally herbivorous grazers, though some are omnivorous and some carnivorous. [34] [35] They eat algae, bryozoans, diatoms, barnacles, and sometimes bacteria by scraping the rocky substrate with their well-developed radulae. A few species of chitons are predatory, such as the small western Pacific species Placiphorella velata ...
While most chitons are herbivores, M. hindsii will graze on just about anything in its path that doesn’t escape including polychaetes, amphipods, barnacles, sponges and algae. This uncommon lifestyle most likely explains why M. hindsii are able to survive in areas too silty for other chitons.
Cyanoplax keepiana, also known as Keep's chiton, is a species of chiton native to the Pacific coast of North America. [1] According to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro , Keep's chiton has "brilliant blue markings on its plates that can only be appreciated with a hand lens". [ 2 ]
Hermit crabs and live Tegula snails on a dead gumboot chiton, Cryptochiton stelleri, in a tide pool at low tide in central California. Although intertidal ecology has traditionally focused on these negative interactions (predation and competition), there is emerging evidence that positive interactions are also important. [17]
Southern California Coastal–Baja California; Sacramento–San Joaquin; Marine ecoregions. Northern California [3] Southern California Bight; References