Mossy Chiton

At a glance

Mossy Chiton (Mopalia muscosa) is a chiton present across the CatchRules coverage area but without species-specific bag, size, or season rules tracked in our regulatory dataset.

Confirmed by 11,767 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with California, British Columbia, and Washington the top jurisdictions by observation count.

Notable details

• Its girdle is densely packed with coarse bristles, giving it a distinctive mossy appearance.
• One of the most abundant chitons on rocky Pacific shores from Alaska to Baja California.
• Can reach about 8 cm (3 inches) in length, among the larger Pacific intertidal chitons.
• Has been observed returning to the same spot on a rock after nightly grazing forays.
• Its radula teeth are reinforced with magnetite, one of the hardest materials produced by any living organism.

Where Mossy Chiton are seen

• California6,000 iNat obs
• British Columbia3,506 iNat obs
• Washington1,811 iNat obs
• Oregon442 iNat obs
• Alaska8 iNat obs

Background

Mopalia muscosa (Gould, 1846) is a species of chiton, a polyplacophoran, an eight-plated marine mollusk. It is a northeastern Pacific species which occurs from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California Mexico.

Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Mossy Chiton article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.