The paper is focused on the gumboot chiton, the largest type of chiton, which can be up to a foot-long.

The gumboot chiton's appearance has led some tidepoolers to fondly refer to it as the "wandering meatloaf."

The largest chiton (up to 33 cm in length) is the brick-red gumboot chiton of the Pacific Northwest.

Gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri)

The name "gumboot chiton" seems to derive from a resemblance to part of a rubber Wellington boot or "gum rubber" boot.

In a few genera of chitons, the girdle covers the valves either partially, as in the Black Katy chiton, or completely, as with the gumboot chiton.

It is sometimes reported that the lurid rocksnail is in fact the gumboot chiton's only predator, but others list such animals as the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, some octopus species, and the sea otter.

The gumboot chiton is found clinging to rocks, moving slowly in search of its diet of algae, scraped off of rocks with its rasp-like retractable radula, covered with rows of magnetite-tipped teeth.

The gumboot chiton's underside is orange or yellow and consists mostly of a large foot similar to that of other molluscs like snails or slugs, with gills found in grooves running along the outer edge of the foot.

The paper is focused on the gumboot chiton, the largest type of chiton, which can be up to a foot-long.

The gumboot chiton's appearance has led some tidepoolers to fondly refer to it as the "wandering meatloaf."

The largest chiton (up to 33 cm in length) is the brick-red gumboot chiton of the Pacific Northwest.

Gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri)

The name "gumboot chiton" seems to derive from a resemblance to part of a rubber Wellington boot or "gum rubber" boot.

In a few genera of chitons, the girdle covers the valves either partially, as in the Black Katy chiton, or completely, as with the gumboot chiton.

It is sometimes reported that the lurid rocksnail is in fact the gumboot chiton's only predator, but others list such animals as the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, some octopus species, and the sea otter.

The gumboot chiton is found clinging to rocks, moving slowly in search of its diet of algae, scraped off of rocks with its rasp-like retractable radula, covered with rows of magnetite-tipped teeth.

The gumboot chiton's underside is orange or yellow and consists mostly of a large foot similar to that of other molluscs like snails or slugs, with gills found in grooves running along the outer edge of the foot.

The Latin name Cryptochiton stelleri means Steller's hidden chiton.

Gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri)