Interesting fun facts about Mollusks or molluscs

 

Interesting  fun  facts about Mollusks or molluscs

 

Scientific Name: Mollusca (Caudofoveates, Solanogastres, Chitons, Monoplacophorans, Scaphopods, Bivalves, Gastropods, Cephalopods)

Common Name: Mollusks or molluscs

Basic Animal Group: Invertebrate 

Size: Microscopic to 45 feet in length

Weight: Up to 1,650 pounds

Lifespan: Hours to centuries—the oldest is known to have lived over 500 years

Diet: Mostly herbivore, except for cephalopods who are omnivores

Habitat: Terrestrial and aquatic habitats on every continent and ocean in the world

Conservation Status: Several species are threatened or endangered; one is extinct

Molluscs are invertebrates that include animals such as squid, octopuses, snails, oysters  etc. There are an estimated 100,000 species of molluscs making them second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, next to only the Phylum Arthropoda (Insects).

The body of most molluscs consists of two parts: a head foot and a visceral mass. The head foot of a mollusc is an elongated, soft structure that encompasses an anterior head and an elongated foot. The head has a pair of eyes, a mouth and sensory and nervous structures. The foot is used for locomotion and for attaching onto surfaces. The visceral mass is located on top of the head-foot and contains internal organs that perform the functions of digestion, circulation, reproduction and excretion.

Mollusks can be found almost EVERYWHERE! They live from the deepest ocean floor up to the intertidal zone. They can also be found in freshwater and everywhere on land.

Amazing Fact is that out of the 200 million eggs a female oyster produces only a handful grows to adulthood

Gastropods or Bivalves

Of the roughly 100,000 known mollusk species, about 70,000 are gastropods, and 20,000 are bivalves or 90 percent of the total. It is from these two families that most people derive their general perception of mollusks as small, slimy creatures equipped with calcareous shells. While the snails and slugs of the gastropod family are eaten the world over (including as escargot in a French restaurant), bivalves are more important as a human food source, including clams, mussels, oysters, and other undersea delicacies.

 

The largest bivalve is the giant clam (Tridacna gigas), which reaches a length of four feet and weighs 500 pounds. The oldest mollusk is a bivalve, the ocean quahog (Arctica islandica), native to the northern Atlantic and known to live at least 500 years; it is also the oldest known animal.

Octopuses, Squids, and Cuttlefish

Gastropods and bivalves may be the most common mollusks, but cephalopods (the family that includes octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish) are by far the most advanced. These marine invertebrates have astonishingly complex nervous systems, which allows them to engage in elaborate camouflage and even display problem-solving behavior—for example, octopuses have been known to escape from their tanks in laboratories, squish along the cold floor, and climb up into another tank containing tasty bivalves. If human beings ever go extinct, it may well be the distant, intelligent descendants of octopuses that wind up ruling the earth—or at least the oceans!

 

The largest mollusk in the world is a cephalopod, the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), known to grow to between 39 and 45 feet and weigh up to 1,650 pounds.