Chiton salihafui, the python chiton, is a medium-sized polyplacophoran mollusc in the family Chitonidae,[1] found on the west coast of Africa.
The valves are each bear an elongate dark triangle which is offset by a lighter area, and their central portions are marked with clear longitudinal striations.
[2] C. salihafui occurs along the west coast of Africa, having been recorded from Tanzania, Somalia, Mozambique and the northernmost part of South Africa, where the only known colony is a single location in Maputaland.
[2][3] The species is collected for use in traditional medicine, a practice that may have led to considerable depletion of the limited populations in the southern extremes of its range.
It has been suggested that collectors be co-opted into conservation efforts by asking them to collect preferentially from the lower parts of the shore, thus shifting the pressure onto the more common Onithochiton literatus.