[Rockhounds] This 'wandering meatloaf' chiton has a rare mineral in its teeth

[Peter Richards]

I noticed that too.  The occurrences mentioned were as botryoidal aggregates and as pseudomorphs.  Neither one is an ideal candidate for hardness testing.

I did wonder whether the comment about strengthening the teeth on the radula of the meat loaf really made sense, though I don’t know what radula teeth are normally made of.
___________________________
R. Peter Richards, Ph.D.
rpr at heidelberg.edu
Morphological Crystallographer

> On Jun 1, 2021, at 9:36 AM, THE HAMMER <hammerron at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Santabarbaraite is new to me.  I did several internet searches for more information and one thing that I found odd is that I could find no mention to its hardness.
> 
> Ron
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> on behalf of Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2021 4:16 PM
> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
> Subject: [Rockhounds] This 'wandering meatloaf' chiton has a rare mineral in its teeth
> 
> A rare iron mineral has been discovered in the teeth of a living organism
> for the first time -- one that bears the pet name "wandering meatloaf."
> While it sounds like a tour update for the musician Meat Loaf, this
> research concerns a large mollusk called a chiton (not a "bat out of
> hell"). The mollusk, also known as Cryptochiton stelleri, got its nickname
> because it's large, reddish-brown and, well, shaped a bit like a meatloaf
> escaping the pan. It lives along rocky coastlines. The largest chiton in
> the world, it can reach 13 inches in length.
> Researchers were surprised to find santabarbaraite in the mollusk's tooth
> because it's previously been found only in rocks.
> 
> 
> Chiton need tough teeth because they essentially chew on rocks to scrape
> off algae and other food substances. Their teeth are one of the hardest
> materials in nature and are attached to a flexible tongue-like structure
> called a radula.
> https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/31/world/rare-mineral-chiton-mollusk-teeth-scn/index.html
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