Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks [a] (/ ˈ m ɒ l ə s k s /). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda . [ 5 ]
The mollusc (or mollusk [spelling 1]) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes. Not all shelled molluscs live in the sea; many live on the land and in freshwater.
In some mollusks the mantle cavity is a brood chamber, and in cephalopods and some bivalves such as scallops, it is a locomotory organ. The mantle is highly muscular. In cephalopods the contraction of the mantle is used to force water through a tubular siphon, the hyponome, and this propels the animal very rapidly through the water. In ...
A siphon is an anatomical structure which is part of the body of aquatic molluscs in three classes: Gastropoda, Bivalvia and Cephalopoda (members of these classes include saltwater and freshwater snails, clams, octopus, squid and relatives). Siphons in molluscs are tube-like structures in which water (or, more rarely, air) flows.
The highly modified parasitic genus Enteroxenos has no digestive tract at all, and simply absorbs the blood of its host through the body wall. [1] The digestive system usually has the following parts: buccal mass (including the mouth, pharynx, and retractor muscles of the pharynx) and salivary glands with salivary ducts; oesophagus and ...
Its diet consists of almost anything it can get into its mouth, including insects, mollusks, and earthworms (as well as other annelids). [6] Once a female common mudpuppy reaches sexual maturity at six years of age, she can lay an average of 60 eggs. [6] In the wild, the average lifespan of a common mudpuppy is 11 years. [8]
Called Shishania aculeata, the new fossil reveals that the most early molluscs were flat, shell-less slugs covered in a spikey armour. Half-a-billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of ...
Gills or gill-like organs, located in different parts of the body, are found in various groups of aquatic animals, including mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fish, and amphibians. Semiterrestrial marine animals such as crabs and mudskippers have gill chambers in which they store water, enabling them to use the dissolved oxygen when they are on land.