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The radula (US: / ˈ r æ dʒ ʊ l ə /; pl.: radulae or radulas) [1] is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. [2] It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus .
The buccal mass is the first part of the digestive system, and consists of the mouth and pharynx. The mouth includes a radula, and in most cases, also a pair of jaws. The pharynx can be very large, especially in carnivorous species. Many carnivorous species have developed a proboscis, containing the oral cavity, radula, and part of the ...
Muscles that control the radula are shown in brown. The surface of the radula ribbon, with numerous teeth, is shown as a zig-zag line. The odontophore is part of the feeding mechanism in molluscs. It is the cartilage which underlies and supports the radula, a ribbon of teeth. [1] The radula is found in every class of molluscs except for the ...
Connective – A part connecting two other parts, as a muscle connecting two parts of the body, or a nerve connecting two ganglia. [1] Constricted – Narrowed. [1] Contractile – Capable of being contracted or drawn in, as the tentacle of a snail. [1] Convex – Bulged out, as the whorls of some snails. [1] Convoluted – Rolled together. [1]
The snail extends the tentacles by internal pressure of body fluids, and retracts all four tentacles into the head by invagination when threatened or otherwise retreating into its shell. The mouth is located beneath the tentacles, and contains a chitinous radula with which the snail scrapes and manipulates food particles.
Most authors figure the shells with the apex of the spire uppermost. In life, when the soft parts of these snail are retracted, in some groups the aperture of the shell is closed by using a horny or calcareous operculum, a door-like structure which is secreted by, and attached to, the upper surface of the posterior part of the foot. The ...
Anatomical diagram of Rhabdus rectius. A number of minute tentacles around the foot, called captacula, sift through the sediment and latch onto bits of food, which they then convey to the mouth. The mouth has a grinding radula that breaks the bit into smaller pieces for digestion. The radulae and cartilaginous oral bolsters of the Gadilidae are ...
The anatomy of a common air-breathing land snail: much of this anatomy does not apply to gastropods in other clades or groups. Snails are distinguished by an anatomical process known as torsion, where the visceral mass of the animal rotates 180° to one side during development, such that the anus is situated more or less above the head. This ...