Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:49 pm
Ran across this at Day Island today, it was HUGE. Looked to be about a foot across (so 8 inches?)
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Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:16 pm
Eeek!
Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:35 pm
Looks like a gumboot chiton.
Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:11 pm
Yep, gumboot chiton.
Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:31 pm
Thanks guys, I would NEVER have guessed chiton.
Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:19 am
Hi Tim,
If you haven't seen one before it's understandable that 'chiton' would not leap to mind. Consider that the scientific name for this beast is Cryptochiton stelleri and that crypto means 'hidden'.
As an aside, 'stelleri' honors Georg Wilhelm Steller; a German scientist best known for his work on one of Vitus Bering's expeditions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Steller [Think Steller's Jay, Steller's Sea Lion, etc.]
Openly yours,
Alex
If you haven't seen one before it's understandable that 'chiton' would not leap to mind. Consider that the scientific name for this beast is Cryptochiton stelleri and that crypto means 'hidden'.
As an aside, 'stelleri' honors Georg Wilhelm Steller; a German scientist best known for his work on one of Vitus Bering's expeditions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Steller [Think Steller's Jay, Steller's Sea Lion, etc.]
Openly yours,
Alex
Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:23 am
Alex, do the gumboots use their foot to "stick" to the bottom as well? It would be interesting to flip one over and look at the teeth. (ok I taking a leap of faith and believing what I read on the internet about them having teeth)
Re: Is this some kind of nudi?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:33 pm
Hi Tim,
Gumboots, like other chitions, use their mucous lined foot to adhere very strongly to solid surfaces. My sense is that gumboots don't grip quite as tightly as other chitons on a pound for pound basis; also gumboots seem to be willing, if not eager, to venture onto sand at times. As to flipping one over: If it's on rock you'd probably injure it before you got it loose and even if you found one on sand and turned it over it would immediately withdraw its radula and slowly curl up. Your best bet is to see one crawling on the glass of an aquarium. The downside to that plan is that aquariums keep their viewing windows clean enough that chitons have little or no incentive to crawl around there. The cool thing about gumboots is that they're large enough that the radular action is naked eye visible. OTOH: The teeth on the radula are too small to be seen as more than two black lines.
Here's a photomicrograph of a chiton's radula:
http://www.midnightsunschool.com/Katche ... radula.jpg
Those radular teeth, in many cases, use hematite (similar to iron ore) as a hardening agent - to the extent that an excised chiton radula can be picked up by a magnet!
Here are a few videos of snails using their radulas (chitons and snails aren't all that closely related but the radula works pretty much the same in each group):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-SBGWAUbxA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLVDwlrSq5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnEI7sjizmY
Tongueishly yours,
Alex
Gumboots, like other chitions, use their mucous lined foot to adhere very strongly to solid surfaces. My sense is that gumboots don't grip quite as tightly as other chitons on a pound for pound basis; also gumboots seem to be willing, if not eager, to venture onto sand at times. As to flipping one over: If it's on rock you'd probably injure it before you got it loose and even if you found one on sand and turned it over it would immediately withdraw its radula and slowly curl up. Your best bet is to see one crawling on the glass of an aquarium. The downside to that plan is that aquariums keep their viewing windows clean enough that chitons have little or no incentive to crawl around there. The cool thing about gumboots is that they're large enough that the radular action is naked eye visible. OTOH: The teeth on the radula are too small to be seen as more than two black lines.
Here's a photomicrograph of a chiton's radula:
http://www.midnightsunschool.com/Katche ... radula.jpg
Those radular teeth, in many cases, use hematite (similar to iron ore) as a hardening agent - to the extent that an excised chiton radula can be picked up by a magnet!
Here are a few videos of snails using their radulas (chitons and snails aren't all that closely related but the radula works pretty much the same in each group):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-SBGWAUbxA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLVDwlrSq5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnEI7sjizmY
Tongueishly yours,
Alex