Mollusca Vocabulary
Visceral Mass: Of gastropods is
always contained within the shell; it
generally holds the bulk of the
digestive, reproductive, excretory, and
respiratory systems.
Radula: A rasplike structure of tiny
teeth used for scraping food particles
off a surface and drawing them into
the mouth.
Bivalve: An aquatic mollusk that has
a compressed body enclosed within a
hinged shell, such as oysters, clams,
mussels, and scallops.
Tentacles: A slender flexible limb or
appendage in an animal, especially
around the mouth of an invertebrate,
used for grasping, moving about or
bearing sense organs.
Foot: The soft structure lying below or
anterior to the visceral mass,
consisting of the head merging into
the protrusible foot (in a gastropod) or
into the tentacles (in a cephalopod).
Torsion: The rotation of the visceral
mass, mantle, and shell 180 with
respect to the head and foot of the
gastropod.
Jet propulsion: Propulsion by the
backward ejection of a high-speed jet
of liquid, method of locomotion in secreting the substance that produces
Cephalopods. the shell.

Chromatophores: A cell or plastid Nudibranch: A shell-less marine

that contains pigment. mollusk.

Mantle: An outer or enclosing layer of Cephalopod: An active predatory

tissue, especially (in mollusks, mollusk of the large class
cirripedes, and brachiopods) a fold of Cephalopoda, such as an octopus or
skin enclosing the viscera and squid.
Mollusca quiz

I hope you were paying attention during the lesson because its time for a quiz!

1. Draw a line connecting the two things that go together. (4 points)

A) Amphineura (polyplacophora) Undergoes torsion.

B) Bivalvia Means head-foot.
C) Gastropoda Has a shell made of

articulating plates.
D) Cephalopoda Are mostly sessile filter feeders.
2. What 3 body parts do all members of phylum Mollusca have and are their

functions? (2 points)

3. Which category of molluscs do octopi, squid, and cuttlefish belong to? (1

point)

4. What is the function of a radula? (1 point)

A) To aid molluscs in locomotion.
B) To protect the molluscs eggs before they hatch.
C) To scrape food off of a surface.
D) To help digest food.
5. What is the function of mucus? (1 point)
A) To aid Gastropods in digestion.
B) To protect unhatched eggs.
C) To protect Gastropods from harmful chemicals.

D) To aid Gastropods in locomotion.

6. Bivalves and Cephalopods use _________________ to more around. (1 point)
7. Mollusks have _________ to help them breathe. (1 point)
8. Mollusks reproduce sexually. (1 point)
A) True
B) False
9. Mollusks are never hermaphrodites. (1 point)
 A) True
B) False
10. List two cool facts you learned about Cephalopods. (2 points)