Species: Katharina tunicata
Black Katy Chiton
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
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Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Polyplacophora
Order
Neoloricata
Family
Mopaliidae
Genus
Katharina
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Invertebrates - Mollusks - Other Mollusks
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Mollusca - Polyplacophora - Neoloricata - Mopaliidae - Katharina - (Boore and Brown, 1994).
Ecology and Life History
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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
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
2005-03-10
Global Status Last Changed
2004-08-25
Distribution
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)