ID on my creature

C

cove beach

Guest
I saw this guy about 6 months ago at night. And today while looking for an emerald crab i found it and saved it from the rock cooking bin.
 
C

cove beach

Guest
That is the top of it, and its about 4" long and 3/4" wide. The bottom side looks like a snail. Also that is the head that is in focus.
 
samurai_sushi

samurai_sushi

Member
It has 8 bumps right? I'm pretty sure its a chiton. I had one exactly like yours but it somehow went carpet surfing and dried up... Anywho they're harmless algae grazers.
 
C

cove beach

Guest
Thats cool since its in the refugium of my new system. I was just excited to have gotten a clear picture of it.
 
C

cove beach

Guest
Yep i googled it and found a website, i emailed the folks the picture to see if they can tell me what part of the world it came from. It'll be coo to find out.
 
C

cove beach

Guest
The shocking part was seeing it for the first time at night, the reef was in my bedroom! My wife thought it was cool! LOL
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
Originally Posted by Samurai_Sushi
http:///forum/post/2734889
You should look up SteaveWeast's worm... that thing was horrible
Ok, so I had to search the web for it, b/c the link/pic on SWF is gone.
Here's Steve Weast's story on the worm
If you want to sleep at night, don't click that link. (shiver)
Of course, if you've already been on this thread, sleeping probably isn't an option already, so click away.
Cove, Weast may have you on length, but for pure disgust, I think you've still got him.
 
C

cove beach

Guest
Here is the official info on my little friend.Your chiton photo was interesting and immediately my wife stated that it was a Cryptoplax larvaeformis. I knew she was probably correct as she was the chiton expert when we worked with chitons starting way back in 1963. I looked up the chiton in our literature and the photos say yes along with other things. It officially is Cryptoplax larvaeformis (de Blainville MS, Burrow, 1815). What that all means is that a man named De Blainville had a manuscript describing this chiton in an 1815 publication by Burrow. I imagine you probably do not care but that is the official information. It is a common species found in the Western Indo-Pacific region which is where most of our "living rock" material comes from.
Now the modern info. We probably get more questions on this chiton than any other from marine aquarium hobbyists. I imagine that there are a couple of reasons. First it is quite secretive so it gets collected with the "living rocks" and sold for your aquarium. It also must be a hardy species as it takes the transfer nicely and third it seems to adapt well and lives well in the home aquarium.
If you would like to see some beautiful photos of this chiton, which grows to about 4-5 inches as adult size, just click this link and I hope you get to Poppe's page for C. larvaeformis. http://www.poppe-images.com/images/s...tegory=chitons. If this does not work you can copy the website address or give Goggle a search for the Genus and species and then pick the Poppe listing.
You say that you have had the chiton 2 years. Have you seen it eat? It is a radula feeder and that is best explained by saying it scrapes a "blade" called a radula on smooth surfaces for food.
 
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