What color are molluscs?

What color are molluscs?

The most common structural colour in shelled molluscs is a pearly iridescence (Fig.

Are mollusks diverse?

Along with the insects and vertebrates, mollusks are one of the most diverse groups in the animal kingdom, with nearly 100,000 (possibly as many as 150,000) described species. This is a list of notable mollusks, ordered alphabetically by class. Also included are extinct mollusks.

What are the three most diverse groups of molluscs?

This is the largest and most diverse group of mollusks (around 40,000 different species); 3) bivalves, including clams, oysters, and mussels; and 4) cephalopods, including squids and octopuses.

What are the four most common and diverse classes of molluscs?

The major classes of living mollusks include gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods (Figure below).

• Gastropods. Gastropods include snails and slugs. They use their foot to crawl.
• Bivalves. Bivalves include clams, scallops, oysters, and mussels.
• Cephalopods. Cephalopods include the octopus and squid.

What habitat do gastropods live?

The terrestrial gastropods are the only mollusks that have adapted to all the habitats of the Earth. They dwell in areas of high altitude, mountainous regions, hot and cold places. Land snails live and perform their vital functions on the ground and not in the sea or bodies of fresh water.

Why is Mollusca so diverse?

The molluscs’ reach into so many different areas that its makes other phylums kind of jealous. They inhabit freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments, utilize various food sources, and move around in very different ways. Speaking of moving around, Molluscs locomotion is extremely diverse.

What makes Mollusca unique?

All molluscs also have gills, a mouth and an anus. A feature unique to molluscs is a file-like rasping tool called a radula. This structure allows them to scrape algae and other food off rocks and even to drill through the shell of prey or catch fish.

Which is the most diverse group of mollusks?

Gastropoda (limpets, snails, whelks, slugs) is by far the most diverse group of molluscs with about 100,000 species (0.5 mm to 100 cm long) that inhabit all marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats.

What is the most diverse group within the mollusks?

Gastropods are the most diverse group of molluscs (Fig. 3.59). The ones we usually think of are snails and slugs. Most gastropods have a calcareous shell protecting the soft-bodied animal inside.

What are the four classes in the phylum Mollusca?

Classes in Phylum Mollusca Phylum Mollusca is a very diverse (85,000 species ) group of mostly marine species, with a dramatic variety of form. This phylum can be segregated into seven classes: Aplacophora, Monoplacophora, Polyplacophora, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, and Scaphopoda.

Where can gastropods be found?

Gastropods are found in freshwater systems, oceans, and on land wherever there is sufficient moisture.

What habitat do snails live in?

They live primarily in the upper leaf litter of forests, old fields, and wetlands, but also in more disturbed habitats such as active gardens and fields, river banks, suburbs, and even cities. The term “land snails” includes snails and slugs, which have no obvious shell.

Why is the color of a Mollusca important?

Color plays a vital function in camouflage, sexual selection, immunity, and evolution. Mollusca possess vivid shell colors and pigmentation starts at the juvenile stage. The hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria is a widely cultivated bivalve of high economic value.

How many species are there in the phylum Mollusca?

Classification of Phylum Mollusca. Phylum Mollusca is a very diverse (85,000 species) group of mostly marine species. Mollusks have a dramatic variety of form, ranging from large predatory squids and octopus, some of which show a high degree of intelligence, to grazing forms with elaborately sculpted and colored shells.

How many marine molluscs are there in India?

In India, total number of molluscan species recorded are 3271, comprises 1900 gastropod species [5]. Marine molluscan diversity of India include about 3,400 species [6]. Recently, there were approximately5,169 molluscs species foundin India[7].

What makes the shell of a mollusc purple?

More recent studies have shown that tetrapyrroles (porphyrins and biliverdins) and carotenoids are present in colourful mollusc shells [14, [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26], with melanins being associated with dark purple, brown and black shell patterns most often [7,19,21,27,28].