Gumboot Chitons Spawning!
I’m excited to share video with you of Gumboot Chitons spawning. These marine neighbours most often seem quite inanimate – having a life where they keep their undersides protected by sucking down hard on rocks but, when it’s time to mate . . . . .
Female! ©2016 Jackie Hildering
First just a little background: “Chitons” are marine molluscs (soft bodied animals) that, rather than having one of more shells to protect themselves, they have 8 armoured plates surrounded by a thick band of muscle. This allows them to suction onto surfaces very effectively since the 8-plates give such flexibility that they can even get a good grip on surfaces that are not flat.
Click to enlarge. Source:
http://www.navajovalues.com/GumbootChiton
There are many members of the the chiton class but the Gumboot Chiton (Cryptochiton steller; aka Giant Pacific Chiton) is very unique in its appearance.
It’s another “the biggest of its kind in the world” that inhabits the cold, rich waters of the northeast Pacific. It can be 33 cm long and about 2 kg. They are very slow growing and very long lived! This source reports that chitons that are 15 cm long are likely 20 years old and that they may live to be more than 25. That’s one old gumboot!
The Gumboot Chiton is also the only chiton species that has flesh completely covering the 8 plates. The texture and colour of this “girdle” offers them great camouflage and is where the “gumboot” descriptor comes from. The genus name “Cryptochiton” relates to this camouflage and that the 8 plates are hidden under the girdle. These plates are very uniquely shaped, and well-described with the name “butterfly shells”.
Small dead Gumboot Chiton. Image shows the thick band of muscle with which Gumboot Chitons secure themselves. Fish in this images is a Longfin Sculpin. ©Jackie Hildering.
Apparently some First Nations did sometimes chew on this species but I am SURE that this is not the cultural origin of some people referring to this species as “wandering meatloaf”!
I don’t know where I picked this up, but I believe that one of the First Nations’ names for gumboot chitons translates (very) loosely, into “stuck on rock with face forever”. This would be an incredibly good descriptor since most chitons stay “face” down, grazing on algae by scraping with the sharp teeth-like structures in their radula. Thereby, they don’t expose their soft bodies and reduce the chance of predation.
Gumboot Chitons feeding on dead Bull Kelp. ©2016 Jackie Hildering.
I once found a Gumboot Chiton that had been dislodged by a predator at low tide. It is then that I learned that they have the ability to curl up on themselves like a pill bug!
But outside of a rare experience like this, you don’t often get a chance to see how very alive and animal-like they are.
Unless . . . they are spawning as they were on May 20th, 2012.
Up came the bodies of the Gumboot Chitons, into a very unique funnel-like shape. The “gonadal pores” are near the bottom end of the animals, but by positioning themselves in this shape, they channel the sex cells upward.
I could clearly see which Gumboot Chitons were male and which were female!
It was just remarkable to see this, feeling truly as if some secret world was being revealed, and the coordinated timing of the spawning was astonishing.
Of course when you are a broadcast spawner, you need to release copious amounts of sex cells and need to do so at the same time or there will be even less chance that egg meets sperm. You can imagine how many eggs need to be fertilized too if any of your zooplankton offspring are going to survive since so many animals feed on plankton.
To my knowledge, science has not concluded exactly what the cues are for “Hey fellow Gumbooot Chitons, it’s annual spawn time NOW!” It has to be temperature, light and/or amount of food that determines that the time is right.
Hum . . . seems to me that those cues may be significant between individuals of our species too!
Additional images:
Chiton plates on the right are those of the Gumboot Chiton.
Sometimes individuals have this mottled colour pattern. ©Jackie Hildering.
Gumboot Chiton being ingested by a Sunflower Star. Unknown if this was the result of predation or if it is scavenging i.e. that the Gumboot Chiton was already dead. ©Jackie Hildering.
NOTE: I would normally NEVER disrupt a chiton as this would potentially damage the animal. The Gumboot Chiton in this image had been dislodged by a predator and was lying upside down. Used it as an opportunity to discuss ethics with the Sunset School students. We decided to right it and put it on a rock so that s/he could be protected again by sucking down ©Jackie Hildering.
The Marine Detective 
8 Responses to “Gumboot Chitons Spawning!”
You ever find bivalve shells that have smooth, shallow grooves cut into, sometimes through them? They track across the shells as if a radula had been grazing randomly. Some of the valves have several tracks – not always the same size. ???
Would you have a photo? I may be being much too simplistic but it sounds like the growth lines.
Ahhh, that it WERE that simple, though, have to say, I LOVE these mysteries!
No, not the growth lines. These are RANDOMLY roaming across the shells, much like the tracks left by grazing limpets/chitons, except they are grooved like a round chisel has cut through.
We’ve been seeing these occasionally on the beach for years, Excluding most critters, save for molluscs with radulas(?) , we’re stumped. One of our volunteers got a picture yesterday. Will round it up and send. Am trying to get this out to a number of people to finally narrow it down, so PASS IT ALONG!
Will do! I am intrigued.
 Here is an image showing the shell with the grooves cutting all the way through. (Shell was about 4 cm) Most of the ones I’ve seen have not cut through, and tend to snake all the way across the shells….
THANK you for any input you have to pass along!
n –
Noelle Congdon – Beasts, Bones & Stone Studio Artist/Naturalist http://www.noellecongdon.com
“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy” – John Sawhill
Hello Noelle, the image appears not to have come through. Please could you send to jackiehildering(@)gmail.com?
Wonderful to see your work!
The quote too aids something I am working on re. humpbacks and tankers. Clearly we are kindred in our interests, concerns and ethics.
i found a grey and orange creature that looks like a gumboot chiton only different colors
Feel free to email me the photos at email give here https://themarinedetective.com/about/