Mollusks: Snails, Limpets, & Bivalves, etc.
75 images Created 27 May 2014
Mollusks include Gastropods, such as snails, slugs, & limpets, and bivalves.
The phylum of Mollusca is the second-largest group of invertebrate animals, accounting for nearly a quarter of the animals alive today. (Arthropoda is larger.) Mollusks are the largest marine phylum. It includes Cephalopods, which are squid and octopus which I put into another gallery. Fossil records indicate they were alive during the Cambrian period some 500 million years ago. Mollusks are defined by having a mantled body, like a cloak over the main body and have a saw-like tongue called a radula, except for the bivalves. On mollusks with shells, the mantle forms the outer shell, and it can repair itself, which amazes me.
The phylum of Mollusca is the second-largest group of invertebrate animals, accounting for nearly a quarter of the animals alive today. (Arthropoda is larger.) Mollusks are the largest marine phylum. It includes Cephalopods, which are squid and octopus which I put into another gallery. Fossil records indicate they were alive during the Cambrian period some 500 million years ago. Mollusks are defined by having a mantled body, like a cloak over the main body and have a saw-like tongue called a radula, except for the bivalves. On mollusks with shells, the mantle forms the outer shell, and it can repair itself, which amazes me.
