This is a cigar shaped chiton, with a narrow girdle covered in tiny scales. The colour is usually brownish but in northern regions they can be mottled and range in colour from blue to orange.

They are found on cobble or small boulders that are on sand or mud from the high intertidal to 20 m. They often cluster together.

Rather than venture onto the surface of rocks the brown chiton prefers to feed on drift or detrital plant material that falls on or around the rocks.

They move rapidly away from light and will curl up if they fall off of a rock. The Brown Chiton’s foot is not as strong as many other chiton species.

NZ Coastal Marine Invertebrates; Vol 1