Home > Northwest Shells & Marine Life > PNW Shells & Marine Life Photos > Chitons > Chitons - Lepidochitonidae & Schizoplacidae

Chitons (Polyplacophora)

Family Lepidochitonidae & Schizoplacidae



< Previous     Next >




Lepidochitonidae  
Cyanoplax dentiens Cyanoplax dentiens Cyanoplax dentiens
all photographed intertidally
 




Click on photo to enlarge.  Scale line in photo equals 1cm unless otherwise specified.
* Species which are commonly encountered on the beach.  














Cyanoplax dentiens (Gould, 1846)
Gould's Baby Chiton *
intertidal to 6m          northern Mexico to southern Alaska          size to 2.7cm
This is a common intertidal species although often hard to spot due to its small size.  It is variable in color but is most commonly greenish-gray to brown.  White flecks or blue-green dots are also typical.
(previous names - Lepidochitona dentiens, Ischnochiton dentiens)

Cyanoplax dentiens
photographed intertidally



Cyanoplax fernaldi Cyanoplax fernaldi
     photographed intertidally      Tacoma, WA, intertidal









Cyanoplax fernaldi (Eernisse, 1986)
Fernald's Baby Chiton
mid to high intertidal          southern Oregon to SE Alaska          size to 15mm
This species is hard to find due to its small size.  Its preferred habitat is among Thatched Barnacles and Aggregating Anemone, where it is tucked into crevasses where it is not easily seen.  This species is easy to confuse with C. dentiens although it usually has more eroded plates.  Our left photo shows a rare turquoise phase.
previous names - (Lepidochitona fernaldi)




Home  About Us  Meetings&Events  Articles  Northwest Shells  Links  Contact Us  Site Map




This page last revised: 2-25-2021




















Schizoplacidae
Schizoplax brandtii Schizoplax brandtii  Schizoplax brandtii
                        preserved specimens  and color variations                                              photographed intertidally
  Schizoplax brandtii (Middendorff, 1847)
very low intertidal to 40m          central BC to Alaska, Bering Sea & Sea of Japan          size to 2cm
This is occasionally seen intertidally.   It has brown striping over a blue background.  The plates are split down the mid-line by cartilage-like tissue which is best seen under magnification.  There may actually be more than one species represented across its range.