This is a chiton. A marine browser that travels slowly across undersea rocks eating algae and leaving a clean trail in it's wake. It has an eight segmented plate armor structure that has always fascinated me. The underside has strong muscles that cling tightly in strong current or if molested.
I have taken some liberties in making it an art piece and exaggerated the spiky axis structure, but it is based on a real species indigenous to Vancouver Island and as far North as Alaska. Anyone from up there that knows the Latin name for this most well engineered creature please tell me for I have been unable to identify it. The one I speak of has bright orange coloring and pronounced spikes ,deeply incised with a chevron pattern...
Welded bronze,(underside) to stainless steel(topside).
The plates started out as scrap oval shapes from the laser cutter.(notice the telltale CERF(cut) on the side edge of some of the plates).
Length-5 inches overall.