Lab five Phylum: MOLLUSCA

● Triploblastic
● coelomate bilateral symmetry,
● Body separated into two parts: foot head and visceral mass
● cephalization, a complete digestive system
● open circulatory system except for cephalopods
● The ventral body wall forms a muscular foot and the dorsal body wall forms
a mantle that encloses the mantle cavity, secretes the shell and can be
modified into gills or a lung– like structure. The mantle is 2 folds of skin
that enclose the visceral mass (digestive, reproductive, circulatory,
respiratory, and reproductive organs) and creates a space between the
mantle and the visceral mass. This space, called the mantle cavity, houses
the gills or lung.
● Synapomorphies: free swimming trochophore larvae, dorsal mantle and ventral foot,
retractor muscles, bipectinate gills and tetraneural nervous system.
● 80% are less than a cm long as adult
● Fresh water and some has terrestrial habitat
● Cone snail has radula modified into venomous needle to capture prey
● All molluscs have radula except bivalves
● Foot are highly adapted for locomotion or attachment
● Mantle is a sheath of skin that protects soft parts, extend from the visceral mass
● Mantle cavity Aid in secretion, gas exchange and reproduction,
● Shell composition
○ Periostracum: color
○ Prismatic layer: dense packed CACO3
○ Nacreous layer: inner most, mother of pearl
● Reproduction: hermaphroditics
○ Cuttlefish has courtship rituals
○ Bivalves release lage gametes into the water

● Small.
Class: Polyplacophora ● Found on rocks in the intertidal zone
● dorso–ventrally flattened
Chitons ● the convex dorsal surface has 8 articulating plates
● Use radula to scrape algae
● herbivores
 ● shallow waters
● bilateral symmetry
● dorso– ventrally flattened
● and the posterior of one valve overlaps the anterior of
the next valve
● mantle cavity is called the pallial groove
● a single row of gills on each side
● Thousands of ocelli for sensory receptor on the dorsal
shell plates
● dorsal aorta sit parallely to longitudinal muscles
● There are two insertion point where longitudinal meets
Katharina with lateral muscles
● Special: presence of oblique muscles
● Gonads on top of muscles, underneath the scaly shell
● Radula inside the buccal bulb, very long

Chaetopleura ● has the hardest teeth known in nature

● comparatively large and wide body with reddish
brown valves, and the presence of short hairs
only in the rather narrow mantle
 ● Exposed valve

Cryptochiton ● Have hundred of ocelli less than a mm

● They have real retina and lenses
● Valves are completely encased in the mantle

● Wide variety of habitat

Class: Gastropoda ○ Deserts, hydrothermal vents
○ estuary , river, marine
Synapomorphy: ○ terrestrial
● Have univalve
1. Twisting Torsion is a relocation of the mantle
cavity and the anus to an anterior position as
well as the loss of some structures

● Whelk and conch shell

Life cycle
1. Transparent egg
2. Trochophore, free swimming, mouth separated from
anus, apical tuft of cillis
3. Veliger: shell formation starting here. Mouth and anus
are on two opposite side
4. Twist and turn 180 degrees so that there is extra
space on the head, they can later retreat fast.
5. However, major space on their heads meaning easily
foul over. How to avoid?
6. Kidney, gills, and atrium DO NOT EXIST ON THE
RIGHT SIDE, ABSOLUTELY NO WATER IN, ONLY
OUT
7. Water excreted on the right side of body along with
waste via anus and nephredia
8. Gastropods are typically slow moving\
9. may or may not have a shell, most of the time univalve

Prosobranchs marine
subclass ?? do not represent taxonomic ranks.

Haliotus, abalone ● The large retractor muscle of the abalone is also

highly valued as a food item
● Posterior tentacle has eyes
 ● there are 2 gills, 2 hearts and 2 nephridia
● dorsal conical shell ‘
● There are 2 distinct groups of limpets, the keyhole
limpets and the true limpets.
○ Keyhole :secondarily bilaterally symmetrical
and uncoiled shell
○ shell has a pore at the apex of the shell

limpets

True limpets ● the shell is not coiled

● symmetrical shell
● . Some true limpets have lost the gills entirely

Opisthobranchs – marine ● polyphyletic

subclass ??? ● Loss of shell leads to interesting adaptations
burrowing, swimming and chemical defences
● Benthic: meaning they are deep sea

Aeolidia ● Nudibranchs are marine gastropods

● completely lost the shell,mantle cavity and sometimes
the gills
● secondary bilateral symmetry
● have finger– like projections called cerata
● Some species lack cerata and will have a small cluster
of external gills around the anus.
● feed exclusively on sea anemones
 ● while alive these can be quite colourful, but the
colouration is lost when the specimens are placed in
fixative and preservative
● Rhinophores are an olfactory organ,
meaning. they allow the nudibranch to
have a sense of smell.

● breathe air and do not have gills for respiration

Pulmoates – on land or in fresh– water ● gills replaced by a highly vascularized region of the
mantle that functions as a lung
Order but still, do not have any classification meaning ● Air enters through a pore called a pneumostome
● Can be terrestrial or aquatic

Helix, ● Have bubble eyes sit ontop the eye sack

● Radula acts like a tongue to scrape food into their
mouth, teeth are on radula vertical arrangement.
● Radula roll like a continuous stream, continuously
replaced by new tissues posteriorly
● Foot extension and contraction is controlled by body
hydrology (blood)
● pneumostome on the side opening to mantle cavity
● Mantle cavity serve as lungs
● Genital aperture lies beneath mouth and close to the
head rather than foot
● Foot is just beneath the pneumostome and anus
terrestrial snails

Limax, terrestrial slugs ● Ciliated on ventral side and therefore, secrete mucous
to move along.
● garden pests: prey on vegetation
●
Helisoma, Lymnaea, or Physa freshwater snails ● Come to surface to breathe even though aquatic
habitat
●

trochophore larva ● that has a complete gut, is planktonic, and feeds on

tiny organic particles

veliger larva ● has a foot, shell and 2 ciliated lobes called the velum
● uses the velum to swim and feed
snail radula

Subclass: Lamellibranchia bivalves, mostly marine

Class: Bivalvia (= Pelecypoda) Common example:clams and mussels.
● flattened lack cephalization
Synapomorphies ● radula and odontophore
● 2 valves that are hinged at the dorsal surface
1. shell being divided into 2 valves, ● sessile suspension feeders
2. having one pair of gills ● Cillia to create current for gas exchange and food
3. the loss of the radula capture
4. odontophore complex. ● paraphyletic

Venus mercenaria ● two valves are joined along the dorsal margin by the
hinge ligament
● Umbo is the highest and oldest part of the shell
● Anulli outline yearly growth and age of the shell, the
older the clam, the closer annuli will to edge.
● Posterior is the end where the siphons extrude,
whereas anterior is the end where the foot extends.
● Anterior is the end closest to the umbo, or the end that
the umbo curves toward.
● Valves are left and right side,. Not upper and lower
● They are held together by the strong abductor
muscles on two sides
● Visceral masses are attached to the dorsal midline
● Foot attached to visceral mass and gills hang down by
posterior and anterior side
● Hinge and ligament is on dorsal side while mouth and
feeding gate is on the ventral side
 ● Having long siphons permits the animal to burrow
Mya arenaria quite deeply and still have access to water for
respiration and food
● Soft shell clam
● Their neck contains two siphon next to each other, if
their umba of the clam is pointing toward you and
neck away from you, incurrent siphon will be on your
right
● Papillae on the siphon to sense vibration of prey

● elongated and wormlike

Teredo shipworms or burrowing clams ● shell is greatly reduced to just 2 small anteriorly
located valves
● Shell allow shipworm to excavate wood to find habitat
● The siphons are located at the opening of the burrow
● pallets can used to close the opening of the burrow

● small size of the foot, which is much reduced

Mytilus mussels because these clams permanently attach to rocks
● byssal threads helps withstanding strong wave
● byssal threads emerge from ventral part of the
tissue, right next to foot and between gills

Dreissena Zebra mussels ● Invasive freshwater species

 ● Gonochoristic, external fertilizer
● Like to settle on top of matured shell, lead to high
density
● High fecundity rate: proliferate
● tiny larvae that freely navigate the
water column until they find an
appropriate habitat with a structure to
settle on. Once the larvae permanently
attach to a surface, they are known as
spat.
● The most obvious structure is the large, central, club
shaped structure that is the foot and visceral mass.
The foot will be muscular and the visceral mass will
clam, c.s. – SLIDE 4 have the digestive system and ducts quite apparent
● Demi branch locate next to visceral mass and is
clam gill, c.s. – SLIDE 5 covered in thin layer of mantle
clam shell, c.s. – SLIDE 6
● Ctenidia or gills, are divided into two
demibranches: inner and outer
oyster spat – DEMO 12 ● Ctenidia then dump into labial palp to
process food molecules.
clam mantle edge, c.s. – DEMO 13
● mantle epithelium will secrete shell
material that will ultimately form a pearl
around the irritant.
●
 ● freshwater mussels
Unionidae glochidia – DEMO 14 ● have larvae, called glochidia are obligate parasites
on the gills or fins of fishes,
● brooding the larvae the gill is called a marsupium

Class: Scaphopoda: tusks or tooth shells ● sedentary marine molluscs that burrow into soft
substrates usually in deep water
Synapomorphies: ● tubular shell is open at both ends
● narrow end protrudes above the surface
lack gills, a heart and circulatory system and osphradia. ● the foot extends through the large end allowing it to
burrow into the mud.
Osphradium: a pigmented chemosensory epithelium ● Scaphopods obtain their food from the water and
substrate using specialized tentacles called
patch in the mantle cavity test the water before going into captacula.

gills for silts and dust

Dentalium

● Focus through movement and not changes in shape

Class: Cephalopoda: like vertebrate
● The foot is modified to form arms or tentacles and is
chambered shell, concentrated in the head region
● But generally very similar
pelagic life style, ● Radula inside the buccal bulb to grind up preys
inside the mouth
hydrostatic organ, ● the dorsoventral axis became elongated to become
the major body axis.
carnivorous beaks and tentacles,

extreme cephalization,

muscular mantle cavity for locomotion and ventilation

and a camera style eye.

Subclass: Nautiloidea-’ ● Eyes filled with liquid

Nautilus sp ● External shell
● shells are chambered and are used for buoyancy
control
● 90 arms that lack suckers
● Active predator
● Multi-chambered but body lies within the larges,
called living chambered
● Camerae chambered are separated by septa :
protoconch
● Cameral Fluid
●

Subclass: Ammonoidea – ammonites (all extinct, fossils) ● Extinct

● Innermost and earliest shell is called umbiculous
● Inner shells have sediments
● There are suture line on the shells suggesting coiling
behavior like in terrestrial snails
● Wiped out after asteroids hitting the earth, raising
ocean acidity and they were on the surface of the
ocean where acidity changes most drastically
● Where as nautilus was on the ocean floor, they were
also 30 times larger when hatched. Therefore, was
not wiped out

● Internal shell or greatly reduced to none

Subclass: Coleoidea

Loligo, squid ● all regions of the marine environment

● largest of all known invertebrates
● reduced internal shell that is called the pen to stiffen
the mantle
● streamlined, fast swimming predators.
● The tip of the mantle is dorsal and the tips of the feet
are ventral.
● Bipectinated gills: gills project to two opposite side
and have comb-like tooth.
 ● Use beak to digest and ingest prey
● Highly developed nervous system
●

Sepia, cuttlefish

Octopus

Loligo, body c.s. – SLIDE 7

Loligo, c.s. of arm and suckers – DEMO 20

Loligo, c.s. of body ink bag – DEMO 21

New words

endocochleate cephalopods with an internal or absent shell.

ectocochleate (mostly extinct) cephalopods with a well developed

calcareous external shell

protoconch Smallest and first chamber of a nautilus shell

siphuncle Tube that perforates the septa,produce gas to

support buoyancy of the animal

Fluid camerae Can be transferred to siphuncle to replace

gas and maintain buoyancy

pen reduced internal shell that is called the pen i

SQUID

Nidamental gland Only in female squid

secretion of egg cases or the
gelatinous substance comprising
egg masses
Vas deferenes Produce spermatophores