Chiton Phone | ||
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The many-plated mollusks or chitons (class Polyplacophora) have eight
plates and look like pill-bugs (but pill-bugs are not chitons).
Chitons crawl along rocks looking for food (usually algae).
A chiton uses its radula (tongue) to scrape algae off rocks.
It also has very hard teeth that are also used to scrape algae off rocks.
These teeth are hard enough to etch glass. Embedded within their shells are primitive "eyes" that detect light.
Chitons are very, very slow moving. During a year, a chiton may move only ten feet. |