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a - anus. dg - digestive gland. The digestive system of gastropods has evolved to suit almost every kind of diet and feeding behavior. Gastropods (snails and slugs) as the largest taxonomic class of the mollusca are very diverse: the group includes carnivores, herbivores, scavengers, filter feeders, and even parasites.
Filter feeders can play an important role in condensing biomass and removing excess nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphate) from the local waterbody, and are therefore considered water-cleaning ecosystem engineers. They are also important in bioaccumulation and, as a result, as indicator organisms. Filter feeders can be sessile, planktonic ...
Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks[a] (/ ˈmɒləsks /). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. [4] The number of additional fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000, [5] and the ...
Thelenota ananas, a giant sea cucumber from the Indo-Pacific tropics. Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (/ ˌhɒləˌθjʊəˈrɔɪdiə, ˌhoʊ -/ HOL-ə-thure-OY-dee-ə, HOHL-). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. They are found on the sea floor worldwide.
Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebrates; many species live in shallow and tidal waters. Some 2,100 species have been described. Barnacle adults are sessile; most are suspension feeders with hard calcareous shells, but the Rhizocephala are specialized parasites of other crustaceans, with reduced bodies.
Brachiopod. Brachiopods (/ ˈbrækioʊˌpɒd /), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection.
Gastropods (/ ˈɡæstrəpɒdz /), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (/ ɡæsˈtrɒpədə /). [5] This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as ...
A tunicate is an exclusively marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata (/ ˌtjuːnɪˈkeɪtə / TEW-nih-KAY-tə). This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time called Urochordata, and the term ...