A large chiton, up to 90mm (47 to 87mm long, 29 to 57mm wide). The plates are usually covered by algae etc but underneath it has smooth dark greenny-brown plates (Morton says with "blue zig-zag markings") with a white stripe along the centre ridge. The girdle is wide and fleshy, covered in a stubble of bristles, and has little "V" inroads covering the corners of the plates.
Very common on exposed shores of the west coast of the Auckland area, from mid intertidal to about 15m deep. North Island and South Island.
Plaxiphora (Guildingia) obtecta (Carpenter in Pilsbry, 1893) (original combination)
Plaxiphora suteri (Pilsbry, 1894)
New Zealand Mollusca, Marine Land and Freshwater Shells, A W B Powell, 1979
The New Zealand Sea Shore, J Morton & M Miller, 1968
Depth | intertidal, offshore |
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Places | North Island, South Island |