Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specialises in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods and cephalopods.Known molluscivores include numerous predatory (and often cannibalistic) molluscs, (e.g.octopuses, murexes, decollate snails and oyster drills), arthropods such as crabs and firefly larvae, and, vertebrates such as fish, birds and mammals. [1]
For these freshwater snails, the siphon is an anti-predator adaptation. It reduces their vulnerability to being attacked and eaten by birds because it enables the apple snails to breathe without having to come all the way up to the surface, where they are easily visible to predators. [6]
Behaviorally, cockles live buried in sediment, whereas scallops either are free-living and will swim into the water column to avoid a predator, or in some cases live attached by a byssus to a substrate. The mantle has three apertures (inhalant, exhalant, and pedal) for siphoning water and for the foot to protrude.
Argonauts are capable of altering their color. They can blend in with their surroundings to avoid predators. They also produce ink, which is ejected when the animal is being attacked. This ink paralyzes the olfaction of the attacker, providing time for the argonaut to escape. The female is also able to pull back the web covering of her shell ...
This may help the gastropod locate food or avoid predators. In terrestrial species, ventilation is better with anterior positioning. This is due to the back and forth motion of the shell during movement, which would tend to block the mantle opening against the foot if it was in a posterior position.
The stop-start motion provided by the jets, however, continues to be useful for providing bursts of high speed – not least when capturing prey or avoiding predators. [14] Indeed, it makes cephalopods the fastest marine invertebrates, [ 15 ] : Preface and they can out accelerate most fish. [ 16 ]
Molluscs can also carry angiostrongyliasis, a disease caused by the worms of the Angiostrongylus spp., which can occur after voluntarily or inadvertently consuming raw snails, slugs, other mollusks and even unwashed fruits and vegetables.
Anti-predator adaptation in action: the kitefin shark (a–c) and the Atlantic wreckfish (d–f) attempt to prey on hagfishes. First, the predators approach their potential prey. Predators bite or try to swallow the hagfishes, but the hagfishes have already projected jets of slime (arrows) into the predators' mouths.