''Acanthopleura echinata'' is a Southeast Pacific

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of edible

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail she ...

, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

polyplacophoran

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...

in the family

Chitonidae Chitonidae is a family of chitons or polyplacophorans, marine mollusks whose shell is composed of eight articulating plates or valves. There are fifteen extant genera in three subfamilies. Subfamilies and genera Subfamilies and genera within th ...

, the typical chitons.WoRMS
/ref>

Description

''Acanthopleura echinata'' is a very large chiton, with specimen confirmed at length of up to . In Chile, the largest individuals are in the north and the smallest in the south. The species is very dark reddish-brown. The plated shell, which often is covered in

epibiont An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, called the basibiont ("living underneath"). The interaction between the two organisms is called epibiosis. An ep ...

s like algae, '' Scurria'' limpets and '' Mytilus'' mussels, has many spines. These spines are generally up to long in large individuals, but can be even longer if not broken, which however is unusual. The similar-sized '' Enoplochiton niger'' of the same region lacks the spines.

Distribution, habitat and behavior

The distribution of ''Chiton magnificus'' ranges along the Pacific coast of South America from Concepción Province (Punta Tumbes) in Chile to

Talara Talara is a city in the Talara Province of the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is a port city on the Pacific Ocean with a population of 91,444 as of 2017. Its climate is hot and dry. Due to its oil reserves, and ability to produce aviation ...

in Peru. Although there are old claimed records of this species from the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands ( Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuad ...

, these are considered incorrect. It lives at depths of in the

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

and shallow

subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

zones, with the vast majority of individuals found in the lower intertidal zone. It inhabits rocky coasts in areas that often have heavy surf. Its habitat often has giant kelp '' Lessonia nigrescens''. It is generally quite common, with average densities in appropriate habitat typically being from about 1.5 individuals per square meter to 2.5 per square meter. The species is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

, feeding on a wide range of algae and invertebrates. It has

radula The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...

r teeth that are quite large, allowing it to eat heavily incrusted things like

coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

Human use

''Acanthopleura echinata'' is edible and is one of the few commercially important chitons in its range, others being the somewhat smaller, up to , dark bluish-gray '' Chiton magnificus'' and the much smaller, up to , brownish '' Chiton granosus''. Neither of these have large spines.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3801919 Chitonidae Edible molluscs Western South American coastal fauna Molluscs of South America Molluscs described in 1824