What Do Chitons Do?

Chitons use a large, flat foot for creeping along and clinging to rocks; they also have a well-developed radula

(filelike structure) with which to scrape algae and other plant food from rocks. On either side of the foot is a groove containing the gills.

What do chitons eat and how?

Most chitons feed by rasping algae and other encrusted food off of the rocks on which they crawl. One genus is predatory, trapping small invertebrates under the fringe of the mantle, and then eating the captured prey. In some chitons, the radula has teeth tipped with magnetite, which hardens them.

Can we eat chitons?

Chitons were prepared in many different ways. The Tlingit ate them raw, or dried for winter [8]. Port Simpson people consumed raw chitons that had been soaked in salt water for several days. In addition, chitons were steamed and eaten with animal fat or roasted on a fire [14].