Chaetopleura apiculata (Say, 1834) Eastern Beaded Chiton
Distribution: Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Florida, Texas. Size: 7 to 20 mm .
Description: Color light brownish to yellowish with a lighter or darker coloration in the middle of the valves; shape broadly oval; distinct axial carina in center of valves; side areas slightly elevated; head and tail valves with small scattered beads; central valves with angled rows of beads; girdle thick and leathery with microscopic beads and scattered hairlike spines in fresh specimens. Habitat: On other shells or rocks below low-tide line to depths of 37 m (121 ft). Remarks: In Texas has been recorded on beach drift in San Luis Pass; live specimens were taken at SPI. Other specimens have been recorded from Heald Bank. See Ode and Speers (1971c); Rehder (1981); Harry (1984a).