Veiled chiton

Placiphorella velata

Veiled chiton

Placiphorella velata

Other Common Names
Veiled Pacific Chiton; jockey-cap chiton

Rocky Coast

Other Common Names

Veiled Pacific Chiton; jockey-cap chiton

At the Aquarium

Rocky Coast

Appearance

The veiled chiton has 8 short and wide plates, or valves, which are usually brownish or reddish in color but with streaks of white, beige, green, or black. The girdle is the muscular fleshy part that surrounds the valves and contains hair-like setae. The girdle includes a large veil, or head flap, which has hair-like setae sticking up from it.

Habitat

Lower intertidal and subtidal to depths of at least 66’ on rocky surfaces.

Diet

Omnivore: they scrape algae off of rocks using their radula, but also actively hunt mobile prey, such as small shrimps, using their head flap as a trap.

Life History

Chitons usually have separate sexes. Upon hatching, larvae spend time drifting with and feeding in the plankton, and then settle to the bottom and undergo metamorphosis. Can reach length of 2.8 inches

IUCN Status

Not Evaluated

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

You may find other organisms growing on a chiton, making itself at home!

Alaska to Baja California, Mexico

Veiled chitons can be found in the lower intertidal so you might come across these while tidepooling. Look for them in crevices or on walls of deep tidepools or in purple sea urchin excavations in bedrock.

Chitons are considered living fossils because their body design has changed very little in over 300 million years.

Veiled chitons are ambush hunters. They lift their veil at about a 45° angle, revealing the brightly colored underside of the veil, often with reddish or purple blotches, which may act as a prey lure. Tentacles beneath the veil detect when a small animal, such as a shrimp, moves under it, and the veil slams down in less than half a second. The rest of the time, they are highly sedentary and have a very slow metabolism, spending a lot of time tucked into rocky crevices.

Citations & Other Resources

Anderson, Roland C. “Collection and husbandry of veiled chitons.” Drum Croak 6 (1997): 6-8.
Carey, Nicholas, Julia D. Sigwart, and Jeffrey G. Richards. “Economies of scaling: more evidence that allometry of metabolism is linked to activity, metabolic rate and habitat.” Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 439 (2013): 7-14.
Clark, R. N. “Review of the genus Placiphorella Dall, 1879, ex Carpenter MS (Polyplacophora: Mopaliidae) with descriptions of two new species.”The Veliger 37.3 (1994): 290-311. https://ia601508.us.archive.org/19/items/biostor-129369/biostor-129369.pdf
Clark, Roger N. “The shallow water chiton fauna of the Salish Sea.” Festivus 52.4 (2020): 294-315.
Invertebrates of the Salish Sea
The Marine Detective
Sealife Base

Veiled chiton

Veiled chiton

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

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