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Date: | Tue, 13 Aug 2002 10:43:27 -0400 |
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I have never cleaned a Cryptochiton, or any chiton close to that in size,
but smaller chitons are very easy to clean if you don't want to save the
girdle. I just dry them or alcohol-preserve them in a flattened position.
Then I remove the foot and viscera with a small sharp knife. Then lay them
on their backs on the bottom of a flat-bottomed plastic container of bleach.
The bleach quickly dissolves all the tissue, including girdle, ligaments,
etc., and you end up with 8 cleaned shell plates lying on the bottom of the
container, in correct order. I assume the same method would work for larger
chitons, though it would take a lot more bleach. You might want to remove
as much tissue as possible with a sharp knife, prior to the bleach solution.
This method is not as good for rolled chitons, as the plates end up in a
pile, rather than laid out sequentially.
Paul M.
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