Acanthopleura gemmata

Acanthopleura gemmata
A mounted specimen of Acanthopleura gemmata at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Polyplacophora
Order:	Chitonida
Family:	Chitonidae
Subfamily:	Acanthopleurinae
Genus:	Acanthopleura
Species:	A. gemmata
Binomial name
Acanthopleura gemmata (Blainville, 1825)
Synonyms
Acanthopleura balansae Rochebrune, 1882 Acanthopleura bergenhayni Leloup, 1937 Acanthopleura gemmata maudensis Ashby, 1928 Acanthopleura gemmata queenslandica Ashby, 1923 Acanthopleura glareosa E. A. Smith, 1884 Acanthopleura rawakiana Rochebrune, 1882 Acanthopleura spicifera [sic] (misspelling) Acanthopleura spiniger (G. B. Sowerby II, 1839) (the nominal species is a synonym of Acanthopleura gemmata; W Indian Ocean records refer to A. testudo; Red Sea records to A. vaillantii (see Kaas et al. 2006) Acanthozostera virens Ang, 1967 Chiton gemmatus Blainville, 1825 (original combination) Chiton macgillivrayi A. Adams, 1855 (junior synonym) Chiton spiniger G. B. Sowerby II, 1839

Acanthopleura gemmata, the jewelled chiton, is a species of chiton in the family Chitonidae.

Description

This large species of chiton grows to be about 7 cm (3 inches) in length. It has oval shaped body with dimpled plate margins, a brown girdle with eight overlapping plates, long calcareous spicules and dark bands.

Distribution

This chiton has an Indo-Pacific distribution.

Habitat

This species lives in the littoral zone of coral reefs on the rocks and cliffs.

References

• Richmond, M. (Ed.) (1997). A guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean islands. Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC/Sida: Stockholm
• WoRMS
• Encyclopaedia of Life
• Great Barrier Reef
• M.ala.org.au