Mollusc
large phylum of invertebrate animals / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mollusks are an important phylum of invertebrate animals. Most of them are marine animals, which means they live in the ocean. They have huge numbers in-shore, that is, in shallow water. They are the largest marine phylum, with about 85,000 living species, 23% of all named marine organisms. They also occur in freshwater and on land.
Quick Facts Mollusca Temporal range: Ediacaran or Cambrian - Recent, Scientific classification ...
Mollusca | |
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Caribbean reef squid, Sepioteuthis sepioidea | |
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Phylum: | Mollusca Linnaeus, 1758 |
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Mollusks are extremely varied: they have great diversity. That may be why there is no word in English for the phylum as a whole. "In an evolutionary sense, mollusks are plastic material".[1] They have much more variety than their ancient rivals, the brachiopods.[2]
Most molluscs have shells, but some groups do not: octopods, slugs, and the gastropods known as sea slugs.