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

[Peter Richards]

Sorry, Drew, if I did not understand your intention.  My criticism was really aimed not at you but at the authors of the quote, for making a meaningless statement.  I had looked up the article earlier, and it seemed to me to be rather full of questionable speculations.

Regards,
Pete
___________________________
R. Peter Richards, Ph.D.
rpr at heidelberg.edu
Morphological Crystallographer

> On Jun 13, 2021, at 7:32 PM, Drew <dr00bert at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I was just pointing out why no hardness value could be found in literature.
> Because it wasn't measured.
> 
> There are specimens available on eBay for anyone who wants to add to the
> literature.
> 
> Drew
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jun 13, 2021, 19:15 Peter Richards <rpr at heidelberg.edu> wrote:
> 
>> The density of the teeth is essentially irrelevant.  Gold has a density of
>> 15 to 19, and mercury a density of 13.6.  Neither would make good rasping
>> teeth.
>> 
>> Pete Richards
>> ___________________________
>> R. Peter Richards, Ph.D.
>> rpr at heidelberg.edu
>> Morphological Crystallographer
>> 
>>> On Jun 13, 2021, at 6:32 PM, Drew <dr00bert at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> "The hardness was not measured but the measured density of the type
>>> material is 2.42 g/cm3."
>>> 
>>> 
>> https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/ejm/detail/15/54934/Santabarbaraite_a_new_amorphous_phosphate_mineral?af=crossref
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Jun 1, 2021 at 9:37 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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