Mollusca

110,000 living; 70,000 fossils

Second largest phylum of animals in terms of
number of known species.
90% of species are in : bivalves & snails
Includes: snails, limpets, clams, mussels, chitons,
octopus, squid, oysters, slugs, nautilus, tooth shells
Phylum has good fossil record;
Body plan of all animals range from fairly simple
organisms to some of the most complex and specialized of
invertebrates
Cephalopods are considered the most intelligent of all
invertebrates
Microscopic to 20 M (giant squid) and up to 900 kg (1 ton)
eg. Tridacna
They originated in the sea and Molluscs are mostly
aquatic; found from the tropics to the polar seas
Occur from the bottom of the oceans to 7000 M above
sea level
Found in all parts of the ocean, ponds, lakes, streams and
rivers, mudflats, intertidal and terrestrial habitats
Molluscs are bottom feeders, planktonic, burrowers,
borers and pelagic forms
only bivalves and snails moved to brackish and
freshwaters
only snails invaded land
Body Plan:

Well developed
bilateral symmetry
Most are unsegmented
(a few primitive forms seem to show some segmentation)

Most molluscs (except bivalves) have a well developed

head
Bears mouth and various sense organs
Molluscs are closely related to segmented worms (same larval
form = trochophore)
Molluscs have wide diversity in group but most of them
share some basic features in their body plan:
•Mantle - secretes shell or becomes outer body covering
itself
•Visceral mass – most internal organs are embedded in
tissue rather than being surrounded by the body cavity
•Shell - (internal or external)
•Radula – specialized feeding organ in mouth
•Foot - usually used for locomotion
 Mantle

The body wall of molluscs consists of an outer layer of

epidermis that extends over most of the animal as a mantle
Glands in epidermis secretes mucous, cement and some
times a shell
In some molluscs the mantle hangs down to create mantle
cavity around the internal organs
 Mantle Cavity
 It houses respiratory organs; gills and sometimes the
mantle itself serves as a respiratory organ
Products from the digestive, excretory & reproductive
systems empty into mantle cavity before release
Continuous current of water is created by cilia to bring in
food and oxygen and to remove wastes and gametes
some molluscs are able to retract head or foot into mantle
cavity for protection
 Visceral Mass

Mantle is underlain by complex layers of muscle and

connective tissues
All most all the body organs are embedded in a solid mass
called the visceral mass rather than being located in a true
cavity
The body cavity of molluscs is a true coelom but it is
greatly reduced to a small space around the heart
Coelom become part of an open circulatory system
 Shell
Mantle (in most molluscs) secretes a shell which serves as
a protective exoskeleton
Shell has great variation in form and structure
Shell is made up of calcium carbonate – (calcium is extracted
from water, soil or food)

Shell appears in embryo

Shell grows throughout life - often shows growth lines
Uses of shell
usually used for protection
some bivalves use shell to rasp into wood or rock
(in squid and octopus the shell is internal and greatly reduced and the mantle serves
as the animals outer covering)
Shell is composed of 3 layers:
•Periostracum = outer
especially thick in freshwater molluscs
protects from acidity common in freshwater
in many marine forms this layer is thin or absent
•Prismatic layer = middle
dense prisms of calcium carbonate crystals in
protein matrix
•Nacreous layer = inner
glossy film of calcium carbonate sheets
secreted continuously through live thickens
produces irridescent “mother of pearl”
 Radula
Tongue-like rasping organ in mouth is = radula
Radula found in all groups (except bivalves and aplacophora (solenogastres)
Radula has hardened file-like, up to 250,000 tiny teeth (the
numbers and pattern of teeth are used to identify certain species)

New rows of teeth are continually added to the back of the

radula and the front teeth are worn down
The radula is supported by a cartilage-like rod(odontophore)
Radula is used to scrape, pierce, tear or cut food
Also acts as a conveyor belt to move food toward the
digestive tract
 Foot
All molluscs have a thick muscular foot
Foot is variously modified for locomotion:
creeping movements - produced by waves of muscular
contractions that move through foot
gliding movement - by creating a slime trail from mucous
glands in the foot eg. snails
Foot modified for digging into sediment
(Foot being extended from body into sediment, hydraulically by engorging with blood
to anchor, then draw rest of body into sediment eg. Bivalves, scaphopoda)
Foot modified for attachment:
secrete mucus to adhere to solid substrate eg. limpets, chitons, land snails
the foot of many bivalves have byssal threads (sea silk) for attachment
secreted by gland that produces, silky filaments of keratin and other
proteins which attaches to substrate by extremely effective cement
Foot ( in some molluscs) is modified into a long tubular
proboscis for feeding
 Feeding and Digestion
Molluscs are detritus feeders, burrowers, borers, grazers,
carnivores, filter feeders, etc
Mouth has tongue like rasping organ = radula
Digestive tract is divided into discrete, functionally specialized
regions:
Foregut: has buccal cavity (mouth, radula, salivary glands,
esophagus) which receives and prepares food
Midgut: has stomach and associated digestive glands
sorting region, crushing region
crystalline style in some to grind food
some digestion takes place in digestive gland
Hindgut: has intestine usually long and coiled
absorption of nutrients
formation of feces (undigested residue)
 Respiration

Most molluscs have folded, ciliated gills (ctenidia)

Gills are thin feathery sheets of tissue covered with cilia
Gills are also used for feeding in bivalves
Some molluscs breath through their skin
many terrestrial snails lack gills (Pulmonates in which
mantle is modified into a saclike “lung” for breathing air)
 Circulation
Most molluscs have open circulatory system (blood not
entirely contained within vessels) which works good for slow
moving animals
The most active molluscs, the cephalopods,
have a closed circulatory system
Heart is simple with a few vessels, with 2 auricles and 1
ventricle and Aorta.
Reduced coelom becomes a haemocoel surrounding heart
Blood contains several kinds of cells:
oxygen carrying cells with pigments
some white blood cells
Pigments improve efficiency of oxygen transport:
Most with haemocyanin (Cu) - blue
some with hemoglobin (Fe) - red
no clotting agents or thrombocytes
 Endocrine Systems
well developed endocrine system
controls egg laying and growth
Nervous System
CNS is a ring of ganglia in head area with paired nerves
and ganglia extending to other parts of the body eg. pedal
ganglia -- control foot
The molluscs have a relatively simple nervous system but
cephalopods are considered the most intelligent of all
invertebrates
unlike most molluscs, cephalopods are active predators
can recognize prey with sharp eyes
can learn by watching
 Excretion
usually 1 pair of nephridia (metanephridia) which often
called kidneys (not really true kidneys) (metanephridium consist
of a tube that opens into body cavity at one end and drains to the outside)

in most species the nephridial tubule also acts as

gonoduct
some molluscs have several pairs of nephridia
some excretion also occurs through body wall and gills
 Reproduction & Development
most molluscs are dioecious; some, especially gastropods,
are monoecious (hermaphrodites)
many marine forms produce characteristic larva trochophore
(same larval form is found in some flatworms, annelids and a few other minor phyla )

in some gastropods and bivalves a second larval form

develops veliger which is also free swimming and has a foot,
shell and mantle
(in many molluscs the trochophore larvae develops in the unhatched egg and a veliger
hatches to become the only free swimming larva in these species)

some freshwater bivalves produce a parasitic larva

glochidium (it attaches to gills of host fish and feeds on blood)
in cephalopods, many freshwater snails and some bivalves
have no larval stage ie. development is direct.
 Classification of Phylum Mollusca
(Morton and Young (1964) in Marshall & Wiliams 7th Ed)

Class: Monoplacophora (only one living genus- Neopilina

with four known species.)
Class: Amphineura (Polyplacophora)(Solenogasters and
chitins)
Class: Scaphopoda (tusk shells, tooth shells)
Class: Gastropoda (snails & slugs)
Class: Bivalvia (mussels & clams)
Class: Cephalopoda (octopus , cuttlefish, pearly nautilus
and squids)