Giant gumboot chiton, giant Pacific chiton, Chinese slipper
At the Aquarium
Rocky Coast
Appearance
The thick and leathery mantle of a gumboot chiton is brown or brick red with small bumps while the underside is orange or yellow. The mantle completely covers all of its 8 valve plates.
Habitat
Among rocks from mid-intertidal to 200 feet deep.
Diet
Generalist herbivore: variety of algae
Life History
Gumboot chitons spawn once a year in spring. A female lays a gelatinous string of eggs up to 3.3 feet long and this induces the males to release sperm into the water. After hatching, the larvae do not feed but swim for about 20 hours and then settle. Young gumboot chitons can often be found in sea urchin pits or other holes.
Can reach lengths of 14 inches and live at least 40 years.
IUCN Status
Not Evaluated
Ecosystem & Cultural Importance
Gumboot chitons sometimes provide a home to worms and/or pea crabs. Predators of the gumboot chiton include the lurid rock snail, ochre sea star, tidepool sculpin, cabezon, river otters, and sea otters.
You might find the butterfly-shaped valve plates of a gumboot chiton washed up on the beach or you might come across one while tidepooling during a very low tide.
This is the largest chiton species in the world. If disturbed, it can roll into a ball. Chitons keep other organisms from growing on their surface by secreting a mucus. Gumboot chitons feed by using their radula to scrape along the surface of rocks for algae.
Lord, Joshua P. inchesLarval development, metamorphosis and early growth of the gumboot chiton Cryptochiton stelleri (Middendorff, 1847)(Polyplacophora: Mopaliidae) on the Oregon coast.inches Journal of molluscan studies 77.2 (2011): 182-188.
Lord, Joshua Pratt. Modeling of Life History Strategies in Organisms with Indeterminate Growth, with a Focus on the Distribution and Life History of the Gumboot Chiton Cryptochiton stelleri. Diss. University of Oregon, 2010.
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