Mollusks are a diverse phylum of invertebrate animals that includes snails, slugs, clams, octopuses, and squids. They range greatly in size, from less than 1 millimeter to over 8 meters in length. Mollusks live in nearly all habitats on Earth, including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. They play important roles in ecosystems and human industries like fishing and pearl harvesting. Many mollusks reproduce sexually, with some species being hermaphroditic. Their eggs undergo spiral cleavage during development.
Mollusks are a diverse phylum of invertebrate animals that includes snails, slugs, clams, octopuses, and squids. They range greatly in size, from less than 1 millimeter to over 8 meters in length. Mollusks live in nearly all habitats on Earth, including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. They play important roles in ecosystems and human industries like fishing and pearl harvesting. Many mollusks reproduce sexually, with some species being hermaphroditic. Their eggs undergo spiral cleavage during development.
Mollusks are a diverse phylum of invertebrate animals that includes snails, slugs, clams, octopuses, and squids. They range greatly in size, from less than 1 millimeter to over 8 meters in length. Mollusks live in nearly all habitats on Earth, including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. They play important roles in ecosystems and human industries like fishing and pearl harvesting. Many mollusks reproduce sexually, with some species being hermaphroditic. Their eggs undergo spiral cleavage during development.
Mollusks are a diverse phylum of invertebrate animals that includes snails, slugs, clams, octopuses, and squids. They range greatly in size, from less than 1 millimeter to over 8 meters in length. Mollusks live in nearly all habitats on Earth, including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. They play important roles in ecosystems and human industries like fishing and pearl harvesting. Many mollusks reproduce sexually, with some species being hermaphroditic. Their eggs undergo spiral cleavage during development.
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1/ 4
mollusk, also spelled
mollusc, any soft-bodied invertebrate of the phylum
Mollusca, usually wholly or partly enclosed in a calcium carbonate shell secreted by a soft mantle covering the body. Along with the insects and vertebrates, it is one of the most diverse groups in the animal kingdom, with nearly 100,000 (possibly as many as 150,000) described species. Each group includes an ecologically and structurally immense variety of forms: the shell-less Caudofoveata; the narrow-footed gliders (Solenogastres); the serially valved chitons (Placophora or Polyplacophora); the cap-shaped neopilinids (Monoplacophora); the limpets, snails, and slugs (Gastropoda); the clams, mussels, scallops, oysters, shipworms, and cockles (Bivalvia); the tubiform to barrel-shaped tusk shells (Scaphopoda); and the nautiluses, cuttlefishes, squids, and octopuses (Cephalopoda). General features Size range and diversity of structure Typical molluscan features have been substantially altered, or even lost, in many subgroups. Among the cephalopods the giant squids (Architeuthis), the largest living invertebrates, attain a body length of eight metres (more than 26 feet); with the tentacle arms extended, the total length reaches to 22 metres. Other cephalopods exceed a length of one metre. Many of the remaining molluscan classes show a large variation in size: among bivalves the giant clam (Tridacna) ranges up to 135 centimetres (four feet) and the pen shell (Pinna) from 40 to 80 centimetres; among gastropods the sea hares (Aplysia) grow from 40 to 100 centimetres and the Australian trumpet, or baler (Syrinx), up to 60 centimetres; among placophores the gumshoe, or gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton), achieves a length up to 30 to 43 centimetres; and, among solenogasters, Epimenia reaches a length of 15 to 30 centimetres. Finally, gastropods of the family Entoconchidae, which are parasitic in echinoderm sea cucumbers, may reach a size of almost 1.3 metres. In contrast, there are also minute members, less than one millimetre (0.04 inch) in size, among the solenogasters and gastropods. Distribution and abundance The mollusks have adapted to all habitats except air. Although basically marine, bivalves and gastropods include freshwater species. Gastropods have also adapted to land, with thousands of species living a fully terrestrial existence. Found on rocky, sandy, and muddy substrata, mollusks burrow, crawl, become cemented to the surface, or are free-swimming.
Mollusks are found worldwide, but there is a preponderance of some groups in
certain areas of the world. The close association of many molluscan groups with their food source—whether by direct dependence on a specific food supply (e.g., plant-eating, or herbivores) or by involvement in food chains—limits their geographic distribution; for example, bivalves of the family Teredinidae (shipworms) are associated with wood. In general, cold- water regions support fewer species. BRITANNICA QUIZ
Mollusks: Fact or Fiction?
Are snails gastropods? Are clams bivalves? Learn the answers to these questions and more by taking this mollusk quiz.
Importance to humans Mollusks are of general importance within food chains and as members of ecosystems. Certain species are of direct or indirect commercial and even medical importance to humans. Many gastropod species, for example, are necessary intermediate hosts for parasitic flatworms (class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes), such as the species that cause schistosomiasis in humans. Most bivalves contribute to the organic turnover in the intertidal (littoral) zones of marine and fresh water because, as filter feeders, they filter up to 40 litres (10 gallons) of water per hour. This filtering activity, however, may also seriously interfere with the various populations of invertebrate larvae (plankton) found suspended and free-swimming in the water. One species, the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), is regarded as a particularly harmful exotic invader. Carried from Europe in ship ballast water, zebra mussels were taken to the Great Lakes in 1986. To date, they have caused millions of dollars in commercial damage by clogging the water pipes of power plants and cooling systems. They are driving many native freshwater bivalve species to extinction.
Many gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods are a source of food for
many cultures and therefore play an important role in the fishing industries of many countries. Many shell-bearing molluscan species are also used to fabricate ornaments and are harvested for the pearl and mother-of-pearl industries. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe Now
Natural history Reproduction and life cycles Mollusks are primarily of separate sexes, and the reproductive organs (gonads) are simple. Reproduction via an unfertilized gamete (parthenogenesis) is also found among gastropods of the subclass Prosobranchia. Most reproduction, however, is by sexual means. Eggs and sperm are released into the water by members of some (primitive) species, and fertilization occurs there. In prosobranch gastropods, water currents may cause a simple internal fertilization within the mantle cavity, or males may fertilize eggs internally using a muscular penis. Both male and female reproductive organs may be present in one individual (hermaphroditism) in some species, and various groups exhibit different adaptations to this body form. For example, in hermaphroditic bivalves and prosobranch gastropods, male and female gonads are functional at separate times and in rhythmic and consecutive patterns (successive hermaphroditism). Conversely, male and female gonads are functional at the same time (simultaneous hermaphroditism) in solenogasters and many other gastropods.
Fertilization by transfer of capsules containing sperm (spermatophores)
typically occurs in cephalopods and some gastropods. In cephalopods, transfer of spermatophores is usually combined with copulation by a modified arm, or hectocotylus. Copulation in solenogasters, often by means of a special genital cone, may be supported by copulatory stylets. Various penis formations, in part with copulatory stylets, or darts, are widely found in gastropods.
Eggs are deposited singly or in groups, generally on some hard surface and often within jelly masses or leathery capsules. Squids of the suborder Oegopsida and some gastropods have eggs that are suspended in the water. Fertilized eggs commonly undergo spiral cleavage, as in annelids and a number of other “protostome” phyla. The eggs of cephalopods, on the other hand, possess a large amount of yolk, which displaces the dividing cells and causes a characteristic type of development.
4 - Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity. Standard Methods For Amphibians - Cap 2 - Mcdiarmind & Heyer - Amphibian Diversity and Natural History
4 - Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity. Standard Methods For Amphibians - Cap 2 - Mcdiarmind & Heyer - Amphibian Diversity and Natural History
