Species: Katharina tunicata

Black Katy Chiton
Species

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    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Mollusca
    Class

    Polyplacophora

    Order

    Neoloricata

    Family

    Mopaliidae

    Genus

    Katharina

    Classification
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Invertebrates - Mollusks - Other Mollusks
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Mollusca - Polyplacophora - Neoloricata - Mopaliidae - Katharina - (Boore and Brown, 1994).

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    Short General Description
    A large black chiton.
    Migration
    false - false - false
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    A moving grazer, diet varies regionally; eats many kinds of brown and red algae, including kelps, as well as Sea Lettuce (<i>Ulva</i>) and encrusting diatoms. Will also eat sponges, tiny barnacles, spirobid polychaetes and bryozoans (O'Clair and O'Clair 1998).<br>
    Reproduction Comments
    Sexual maturity at 35mm in length. Spawns in spring in the southern part of its range; during summer further north (e.g. in June on the outer coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia). Females broadcast eggs (O'Clair and O'Clair 1998) after nearby males shed their sperm (Barr and Barr 1983). Settlement and metamorphosis can be induced by the encrusting coralline alga, <i>Lithothamnion</i> spp. Onset of gonadal growth in fall is triggered by declining water temperatures. Final gamete production in spring requires increasing water temperatures. Adults live to three years in California, perhaps longer in Alaska (O'Clair and O'Clair 1998).<br>
    Ecology Comments
    Predators include humans, sea urchins, leather stars, Black Oystercatchers, and Glaucus-winged Gulls (O'Clair and O'Clair 1998).
    Length
    13
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    2005-03-10
    Global Status Last Changed
    2004-08-25
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.AK=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.OR=SNR&US.WA=SNR" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    FG - 20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles) - FG - Occurs from Kamchatka, Russia, through the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, to southern California (O'Clair and O'Clair 1998, Field and Field 1999, Slieker 2000).
    Global Range Code
    FG
    Global Range Description
    20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.738870