Mollusca

- comes from the Latin word molluscus meaning soft.

Phylum Mollusca structure

no backbone internal cavities containing the heart, kidneys, gonads most molluscs have a hard exterior shell that is produced by the mantle some, such as the slugs, have no shell at all some molluscs (squid and seahares (Pteropods) produce an internal shell

7 Classes of Mollusks

GASTROPODA (gastropods) - "stomach-footed" BIVALVIA (bivalves) - "two-valved" SCAPHOPODA (scaphopods) - "boat-footed" APLACOPHORA (solenogasters) - "without plates" POLYPLACOPHORA (chitons) - "bearing many plates"

MONOPLACOPHORA (gastroverms and segmented limpets) "bearing one plate"

CEPHALOPODA (cephalopods) - "head-footed"

Bivalve Taxonomy
http://www.manandmollusc.net/advanced_introduction/moll101pelecypoda.html

BIVALVIA

These animals produce two shells (valves) that are connected by a hinge. The animals have no head but with a foot that often extends between the two valves. Common names for some of the bivalves are clams, scallops, and oysters.

Determination of Left and Right Valve

Determination of Left and Right Valve

CLAM

The clam's foot is used to dig down into the sand.

Pair of long siphons extrude to reach up to the water above.

CLAM

Most clams filter feeders.

Water and food particles are drawn in through one siphon to the gills where tiny, hair-like cilia move the water, and the food is caught in mucus on the gills. The food-mucus mixture is transported along a groove to the palps which push it into the clam's mouth. The second siphon carries away the water. The gills also draw oxygen from the water flow.

Edible Clams

Giant Clam

Geoduck

Geoduck Harvesting

Geoduck with Starfish

Geoduck

Mike Rowe - Geoduck

http://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=iZhQLoYIb J4&feature=fvwrel

Clam Anatomy

Corbicula Clams Golden Clams

Deep Sea Clams

Steamer Clams

Clams Quahogs Mercenaria mercenaria

Razor Clam Ensis directus

Razor Clam

Razor Clam

How to Find Clams

Alaska!!

Scallops

Scallops, such as the Atlantic Bay Scallop, do not burrow in the sand; instead, they lie on the bottom and move by using their abductor muscle to rapidly open and close their valves, ejecting water around the hinge. The abductor muscle is most often eaten, but most of the remainder is also edible.

Around the edge of the scallop's mantle is a series of blue eyes that, though rather weak, can detect movement nearby and warn of the presence of predators, particularly of sea stars.

Scallops can swim in spurts by clapping their shells.

SCALLOPS

Water is ejected backwards through openings on either side of the hinge, propelling the scallop in the opposite direction.

When not jetting around, they settle into evenlyspaced shallow pits in the sand.

Bay Scallop Aquipecten irradians - edible

SCALLOP

Scallop

Scallop Eyes

Scallop Eyes

Deep Sea Scallop Placopecten magellanicus - edible

Oyster

The oysters change their sex during their lives, starting as males and usually ending as females. The shape of oysters varies and depends mainly on how many crowd about them in the bed as they develop. The larvae of oysters, such as the Eastern Oyster, cement their mantles to rocks, shells, or any other solid objects and spend their lives in one place, opening their growing shells to filter algae from the water.

Oyster

Oysters

Oysters breathe much like fish, using both gills and mantle. The mantle is lined with many small, thin-walled blood vessels which extract oxygen from the water and expel carbon dioxide.

A small, three-chambered heart, lying under the adductor muscle, pumps colorless blood, with its supply of oxygen, to all parts of the body.
At the same time a pair of kidneys located on the underside of the muscle purify the blood of any waste

Oysters

There is no way of telling male oysters from females by examining their shells. While oysters have separate sexes, they may change sex one or more times during their life span. The gonads, organs responsible for producing both eggs and sperm, surround the digestive organs and are made up of sex cells, branching tubules and connective tissue.

Oysters

What is that tiny crab we see in an oyster? It is a species of crab (Pinnotheres ostreum) that has evolved to live harmoniously inside an oyster's shell.

Oysters

Oysters

How do pearls end up inside of oysters? An oyster produces a pearl when foreign material becomes trapped inside the shell. The oyster responds to the irritation by producing nacre, a combination of calcium and protein. The nacre coats the foreign material and over time produces a pearl.

Pearl Oysters

Pearl Oyster

Edible Oysters

MUSSELS Mussels are found everywhere, attached to any solid substrate.

Mussels are to the sea what grass is to suburbia.

Mussels lack the muscular foot of clams or the large hinge muscle of scallops.

Instead, they have a "beard" of tough fibers near the hinge with which they attach

Blue Mussel Mytilus edulis

Horse Mussel Modiolus modiolus (INEDIBLE)

Zebra Mussel

Zebra Mussels were introduced into the Great Lakes in the mid eighties.
Probably arrived as larvae in the ballast water of visiting ships. They have been spreading like wildfire and often covering every available hard surface, including each other.

This wreaks havoc with power-plant cooling systems and municipal water supplies, where masses of the tiny bivalves clog pipes and water intakes. One positive effect for divers, however, the Great Lakes and surrounding waters have never been cleaner or clearer.

Zebra Mussel

Zebra Mussel

Zebra mussel

Mimic Octopus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8oQBYw6xxc&feature=player_embedded#at=2 5

Bivalve Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2TNoyvQ8 qo

Dead Clam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTzGgKys cfc&feature=related

Giant Clam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBfviWg7k KM&feature=fvwrel

Oyster Filter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh7gFpaGr70&feature=related

Moon Snail vs Cockel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70OHQJ2SbQU

Phylum Mollusca Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEwnarCYIO4&feature=related