Key to Irish Chitons
Species Description
Acanthochitona fascicularis (Linnaeus, 1767) | [back to the Key] | [species list] | [previous] |
Length: to 60 mm – the largest Irish chiton
Tegmentum colour: typically olive green with reddish blotches; the wide jugal area is usually be lighter (cream or beige) with dark longitudinal streaks. Sculpture: valves little or not beaked. The jugal area with faint longitudinal grooves; latero-pleural areas covered in closely-spaced, small round granules arranged in radial rows. Girdle: very broad and densely covered with two kinds of spicules: short slender spicules and longer spicules interspersed between them, with 18 large tufts of spines arranged around the head and at the sutures. Bathymetric range: low-water to 50 m; lives sub-tidally on rock and in crevices. Geographic range: Found in the north Atlantic from Ireland and Britain south to the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Similar species: Acanthochitona crinita; Acanthochitona discrepans
Taxonomy & Synonymy: ORDER: Chitonida Thiele, 1909 FAMILY: Acanthochitonidae Pilsbry, 1893 GENUS: ACANTHOCHITONA Gray, 1821 Acanthochitona fascicularis (Linnaeus, 1767)
References: Vončina K, Mikkelsen NT, Morrow C, Ang R, Sigwart JD (2023) Clarification of the taxonomic status of Acanthochitona discrepans (Brown, 1827) with new data for the North-East Atlantic Acanthochitona (Polyplacophora, Acanthochitonidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e109554. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e109554
List of synonymised names available at:
For more information on this species, see: https://marinvert.senckenberg.science/acanthochitona-fascicularis/ |