Diversity of Life

EBIO 1010
Lecture 14
Mollusks

Coelomates
The coelom allows for:
Increased body size

Repositioning of body fluid for complex

tissues and organs
Diversity of body architecture

Phylum Mollusca
Mollusks are a
diverse phylum
(110,000 described
species)
Second only to
arthropods

Found in diverse
environments
(almost every
habitat on Earth)

Mollusks
Mollusks include:
Snails, slugs,
clams, scallops,
oysters,
cuttlefish, squid,
octopi, chitons
Range in size
from near
microscopic to
gigantic (e.g.,
giant clam)

Flame scallop,
Lima scabra

Chambered
nautilus, Nautilus
pompilius

Blue-ringed octopus,
Hapalochlaena
maculosa

Banana slug,
Ariolimax
columbianus

Mollusk Evolution
Mollusks evolved as a marine group
Most diversity is found there

Some have invaded fresh water and land

E.g., snails, slugs, freshwater pearl mussels
Terrestrial mollusks are abundant in places
that are seasonably moist
Even found in desert rock crevices that collect
water

Mollusk Body Plan

Mollusks are:
Bilaterally symmetrical
Symmetry disappeared
in the evolution of gastropods

Eucoelomate
Reduced and limited to small spaces around the
excretory organs, heart, and part of the intestine

Internal Organs
Digestive, excretory, and reproductive organs
are concentrated in the visceral mass
Foot is the primary means of locomotion
Highly modified into tentacles in cephalopods

Some mollusks have a differentiated head at the

anterior end
Mantle is a thick epidermal sheet of skin
Covers the dorsal side
Forms a cavity for the respiratory organs
Has openings for excretory, reproductive and
digestive organs

The foot
Muscular organ
Adapted for:
Locomotion (snails,
clams)
Attachment (chitons)
Food capture (squid
and octopi)
Wing-like projections
for flotation (sea
butterfly - gastropod)

Shells
In most mollusks the
outer mantle secretes
a shell
Adapted for:
Protection - many can
withdraw into their
shell

Some have reduced

their shell (e.g., many
cephalopods)

Shells
Shells typically made
of calcium carbonate
Outer protective layer
with protein conchin
Inner layer is pearly
If thick enough can be
harvested into motherof-pearl

Pearls
Pearls form when a
foreign object is
lodged between the
mantle and inner shell
layer of a bivalve
Mantle coats the
object with shell
material to reduce
irritation

Radula
Radula - a rasping tongue
used for feeding
Dozens to hundreds of
microscopic chitinous
teeth arranged in rows
Adaptations:
Benthic (bottom-dwelling)
animals use it to scrape
Predatory snails use it as a
drill to penetrate shells of
prey
Conus snails use it has a
venomous harpoon
Few species have enough
toxin to kill a human

Absent in bivalves

Modified radula of snails in

the genus Conus

Conus snail capturing fish

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=opwGG9_oOjA

Circulatory System
Open circulatory system - all but
cephalopods
Heart and open system which circulates blood
freely

Three-chambered heart common in

mollusks
Two collect aerated blood from gills
One that pumps

Reproduction
Most mollusks have male and
female individuals (sexes separate)
Several freshwater and terrestrial
gastropods are hermaphroditic

Some sea slugs and oysters are

capable of switching sexes several
times during a single mating
season
Most aquatic mollusks use external
fertilization

Gastropods frequently have

internal fertilization (facilitated
colonization of terrestrial habitats)

Chelidonura hirundinina

Mollusk Importance
Important source of food for humans
Oysters, clams, scallops, mussels, octopuses, squid
Louisiana is the nations largest oyster supplier (250
million pounds per year)

Economic importance - pearls, mother-of-pearl

Pests:
Agricultural damage - flowers, vegetables, and crops
by slugs and snails
Serve has intermediate hosts for nematodes and
flatworms
Shipworms burrow through wood damaging boats,
docks, and pilings
Zebra mussel - freshwater invasive

Zebra mussels: Dreissena polymorpha

Invasive species originally
from Russia
Introduced into many
countries around the world
First discovered in the U.S.
in 1988 (Great Lakes)
Likely arrived in ballast
water
Spread throughout much of
U.S.

Zebra mussels: Dreissena polymorpha

Detected in
Massachusetts and
Minnesota in 2009 and
North Dakota and
California in 2010
Clogs pipes and
hydroelectric dams,
harbors avian botulism,
suffocates native
mollusks
One estimate is 500
million dollars in damage
per year in the Great
Lakes alone

Mollusk Diversity
Eight recognized classes

Class Polyplacophora - chitons

Class Gastropoda - limpets, snails, slugs
Class Bivalvia - clams, oysters, scallops
Class Cephalopoda - squids, octopuses, cuttlefishes,
nautiluses
Class Scaphopoda - tusk shells
Class Monoplacophora - discovered in 1952 in deep sea
vents, 11 described living species - known before from fossils
Class Aplacophora - small worm-like mollusks that feed on or
live symbiotically with cnidarians, no shell, eyes or tentacles
Class Caudofoveata - small worm-like mollusks that burrow
head-down in the sea floor (~ 70 species)

Class Polyplacophora
Chitons (~1,000
species)
Marine
Oval bodies with
eight plates
Body is not
segmented
Eight sets of
retractor muscles
Serially repeated
gills

Class Polyplacophora
Creep along using broad
flat foot
Grips the substrate making
it difficult to dislodge by
predators or waves
Gills arranged around foot

Most are grazing

herbivores
Typically found in shallow
water though some live at
depths of > 7000 m

Class Gastropoda
40,000 described species
Limpets, snails, slugs and
relatives

Primarily marine, but

contains freshwater and
terrestrial groups
Most have shell but
nudibranchs (sea slugs)
and slugs have lost theirs
Creep along on a foot,
though few (sea butterflies)
use their foot to swim

Sea Slug

Class Gastropoda
Most have a pair of
tentacles with eyes at the
base
Garden snails have two
sets of tentacles, with eyes
at the end of one set
Others have tentacles in
other parts of the body
(e.g., mantle or along the
foot)

Tentacles are chemo- or

mechanosensors

Gastropod Development
Gastropods undergo torsion
during development
The mantle cavity and anus are
moved anterior
Caused by disproportionate
growth of lateral muscles

Shrinks or removes left nephridia,

gonads, and other organs
Therefore not bilaterally
symmetrical

Gastropod Development
Gastropods also
undergo coiling
Spiral winding of shell
Also occurs in
cephalopods
(Nautilus)

According to the fossil

record, the first
gastropods were
coiled but not
torsioned

Sea Slugs
Nudibranchs (sea slugs)
Active predators

Some have the ability to

extract nematocysts from
cnidarian polyps they eat
and transfer them to their
own bodies
Nudibranchs get their
name from their gills
which are exposed

Class Bivalvia
10,000 species
Most are marine, but
there are many
freshwater species
Two lateral shells hinged
dorsally
Strong adductor muscles
draw the shells together

Mantle secretes the shell

and envelops the organs

Bivalve Feeding
Most are filter feeders that attach to
substrate or burrow
Extract small organisms from the water
that enters the mantle cavity
Do not have distinct head or radula
Foot for attachment, creeping, burrowing,
cleaning, or anchoring in burrow
Some can dig quickly

Bivalve Movement
Dispersal is broad in larval stage
Most adults burrow

Some scallops and file clams move swiftly through

the water by clapping their shells together

http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=_2iXHBuSIJY

Class Cephalopoda
More than 600 species
Octopuses, squids, cuttlefish
nautiluses
Entirely marine

Active predators that are

capable of swimming swiftly
Foot evolved into a series of
arms with suction cups,
adhesive structures, or hooks
for prey capture
Squids have 10 arms
Octopuses have 8 arms
Nautiluses have 80 to 90 arms

Chambered nautilus, genus Nautilus

Nervous System
Highly developed
nervous system
Elaborate eyes
convergent with
vertebrate eyes
Complex behavior and
high intelligence
Can identify classes of
objects
Can escape tank to seize
prey in another tank and
return back to their original
tank
Can unscrew lids from jars
to get to prey (problem
solving)

Cephalopods
Intake water into mantle
cavity and expel it
through a siphon
Jet propulsion - can eject
water violently and shoot
themselves through the
water
Some cephalopods have
an ink sac with brownblack fluid that is expelled
through the anus to
confuse predators
Only mollusk with a
closed circulatory system
and direct development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=QCImR8fiJ58&feature=related

Cephalopods
Some can change
color and texture to
suit background or
communicate
Use chromatophores pouches of pigments in
epithelium

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVL9_fzFcoQ