earthstory:Chiton TeethThe dark spots in this shot are one of the most amazing examples of biominera
earthstory:Chiton TeethThe dark spots in this shot are one of the most amazing examples of biomineralization on Earth. Life has figured out many ways to use the properties of minerals for support and defense – you are literally being held up now by phosphate biominerals in your skeleton. The dark spots in this frame are teeth made of the mineral magnetite – the only known organism that uses magnetite as an abrasive biomineral.Chitons are a type of mollusk that lives on the surface of rocks, typically scraping off algae living on the surface for food. These teeth are estimated to be 3x as hard as phosphate enamel used by humans, so the chitons are able to grind away at carbonate rocks using them without the teeth becoming dull. Rocks that have been visited by chitons often have grooves left behind by their teeth, and many small limestone atolls in the Pacific Ocean have eroded notches right at the high tide line – a leftover of chitons living at that boundary and eating away specifically at those rocks using these magnetite teeth.-JBBImage source: Naturehttp://bit.ly/2hqE02oReference:http://bit.ly/2gqxpVA -- source link
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