Plaxiphora mercatoris

Plaxiphora mercatoris   Leloup, 1936

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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Polyplacophora | Chitonida | Mopaliidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Sessile.  Subtropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Southeast Pacific: Endemic to Easter Island.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 5.5 cm SHL male/unsexed; (Ref. 87884)

Short description Morphology

Large and slightly depressed species that reaches 55mm in length and 35 mm width. The surface of the valves are usually worn and obliterating the structure. Juveniles are bluish green and the valves are covered with irregular, flattened, subgranulose, zigzag ridges. The girdle is covered with irregular, bluntly pointed spines that have a chitinous base and a calcareous upper part, where the tip is reddish brown.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found attached on rocks (Ref. 87884), or in sea urchin boreholes (Ref. 90219).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Members of the class Polyplacophora are mostly gonochoric. Life cycle: Eggs hatch into lecitotrophic planktonic trocophore larvae (no veliger stage) which later metamorphose and settle on the bottom as young adults.

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Rehder, H.A. 1980 The marine mollusks of Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) and Sala y Gómez. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 289:1-167. (Ref. 87884)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless

Human uses


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Ecology
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Length-weight rel.
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Maturity
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References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

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