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Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Polyplacophora
Family: Lepidopleuridae
Chitons have an oval, limpet-like body and a dorsal shell of eight interlocking plates rather like a woodlouse with a muscular foot and a mantle fringing the shell. Leptochiton asellus grows up to 18mm in length and has a body approximately twice the length as its width. It is a herbivorous grazer feeding on encrusting and filamentous algae. It clamps itself to a rock using its muscular foot which it also uses for locomotion as it looks for food. Chitons are very difficult to identify to species in the field as generally it is necessary to examine them under a microscope to look at the tiny spines that fringe the mantle. L.asellus is common around the coast of Essex and can be found by gently looking under rocks on the lower shore. Always replace rock as you found them or the creatures underneath will die.
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