The Mollusca, common name molluscs or mollusks,is a large phylum of invertebrate animals.

There are
around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. This is the second largest marine phylum,
comprising about 17% of all the named marine organisms, behind 19% for the Crustacea. Numerous
molluscs also live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Molluscs are highly diverse, not only in size and
in anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and in habitat.

Taxonomy
The phylum Mollusca is monophyletic and is typically divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of
which two are extinct. The gastropods (snails and slugs) include by far the most classified species,
accounting for 80% of the total. Cephalopod molluscs such as squid, cuttlefish and octopus are among
the most neurologically advanced invertebrates. Either the giant squid or the colossal squid is the largest
known species of animal without a backbone.

Opinions vary about the number of classes of molluscs—for example the table below shows eight living
classes, and two extinct ones. However some authors combine the Caudofoveata and solenogasters into
one class, the Aplacophora. Two of the commonly recognized classes are known only from fossils,

Described living
Class Major organisms Distribution
species
seabed 200–3,000
Caudofoveata worm-like organisms 120
metres (660–9,800 ft)
seabed 200–3,000
Aplacophora solenogasters, worm-like organisms 200
metres (660–9,800 ft)
rocky tidal zone and
Polyplacophora chitons 1,000
seabed
seabed 1,800–7,000
An ancient lineage of molluscs with metres (5,900–23,000
Monoplacophora 31
cap-like shells ft); one species
200 metres (660 ft)
All the snails and slugs including
Gastropoda abalone, limpets, conch, 70,000 marine, freshwater, land
nudibranchs, sea hares, sea butterfly
Cephalopoda squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus 900 marine
clams, oysters, scallops, geoducks,
Bivalvia 20,000 marine, freshwater
mussels
marine 6–7,000 metres
Scaphopoda tusk shells 500
(20–23,000 ft)
fossils; probable ancestors of
Rostroconchia extinct marine
bivalves
fossils; snail-like organisms such as
Helcionelloida extinct marine
Latouchella

[edit] Distinguishing features

About 80% of all known mollusc species are gastropods (snails and slugs), including the cowry (a sea
snail) pictured here.[6]
Estimates of accepted described living species of molluscs vary from 50,000 to a maximum of
120,000 species.[1] In 2009 Chapman estimated the number of described living species at 85,000. [1]
Haszprunar in 2001 estimated about 93,000 named species,[3] which include 23% of all named marine
organisms.[15] Molluscs are second only to arthropods in numbers of living animal species[6]—far behind
the arthropods' 1,113,000 but well ahead of chordates' 52,000.[16] It has been estimated that there are
about 200,000 living species in total, [1][17] and 70,000 fossil species,[18] although the total number of
mollusc species that ever existed, whether or not preserved, must be many times greater than the
number alive today.[19]
Molluscs have more varied forms than any other animal phylum. They include snails, slugs and other
gastropods; clams and other bivalves; squids and other cephalopods; and other lesser-known but
similarly distinctive sub-groups. The majority of species still live in the oceans, from the seashores to the
abyssal zone, but some form a significant part of the freshwater fauna and the terrestrial ecosystems.
Molluscs are extremely diverse in tropical and temperate regions but can be found at all latitudes.[20]
About 80% of all known mollusc species are gastropods. [6] Cephalopoda such as squid, cuttlefish and
octopus are among the neurologically most advanced of all invertebrates.[21] The giant squid, which until
recently had not been observed alive in its adult form, [22] is one of the largest invertebrates. However a
recently caught specimen of the colossal squid, 10 metres (33 ft) long and weighing 500 kilograms (0.49
LT; 0.55 ST), may have overtaken it.[23]
Freshwater and terrestrial molluscs appear exceptionally vulnerable to extinction. Estimates of the
numbers of non-marine molluscs vary widely, partly because many regions have not been thoroughly
surveyed. There is also a shortage of specialists who can identify all the animals in any one area to
species. However, in 2004 the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species included nearly 2,000 endangered
non-marine molluscs. For comparison, the great majority of molluscs species are marine but only 41 of
these appeared on the 2004 Red List. 42% of recorded extinctions since the year 1500 are of molluscs,
almost entirely non-marine species.[24]
[edit] Definition
The words mollusc and mollusk are both derived from the French mollusque, which originated from the
Latin molluscus, from mollis, soft. Molluscus was itself an adaptation of Aristotle's τᾲ μαλάκια, "the soft
things", which he applied to cuttlefish.[25] The scientific study of molluscs is known as malacology.[26]
Molluscs have developed such a varied range of body structures that it is difficult to find
synapomorphies (defining characteristics) that apply to all modern groups. [20] The most general
characteristic of molluscs is that they are unsegmented and bilaterally symmetrical. [27] The following are
present in all modern molluscs:[18][28]
 The dorsal part of the body wall is a mantle (or pallium) which secretes calcareous spicules,
plates or shells. It overlaps the body with enough spare room to form a mantle cavity.
 The anus and genitals open into the mantle cavity.
 There are two pairs of main nerve cords.[28]