A chiton with flair

  

Eric snapped this great photo of a Veiled Chiton (Placiphorella velata) during field work this afternoon (8 March 2024).  Impressive how well this species looks like the surrounding habitat — rock, coralline algae, and red seaweeds.  This individual even has a little bit of branching coralline algae growing on its shell plates!  

Here's another image from a little farther back:

 

 

For more information about this intriguing predatory chiton, you can review the post called "A veiled threat" from 21 August 2012.  And there's a beautiful underwater photo in the post called "Camouflaged like coralline" on 11 August 2021.

Waiting

Before I took this picture last month, I hadn't realized how much a chiton could look like a sea anemone!

 

The chiton (in the center of the photo) is a Veiled Chiton (Placiphorella velata).  It might be difficult to spot at first, but it's nestled next to an Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima). 

Below is a side view of the chiton where can see how the setae (bristles) at the head end look similar to the tentacles of the anemone:

 

Placiphorella is an unusual chiton.  While most chitons are grazers, this species is predatory.  It raises its veil (as in the photo below), waits for prey to pass underneath, and then clamps down quickly to capture it.  The bristles above probably help to camouflage the chiton, making it harder for prey to recognize a possible predator.

 

I first introduced Veiled Chitons back in 2012 (was it really that long ago?).  If you'd like to learn more about them, check out the post called "A veiled threat" from 21 August 2012.