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Features Of Mollusca
Across the lands, seas and terrestrial domain of mollusca the highly diverse members of this kingdom share certain attributes and features. The features of mollusca are unique in all aspects although they ay sound complex at times. One of the notable features of mollusa is having a bilaterally symmetrical body with a well-defined head having sensory tentacles. Mollusca are a group of soft-bodied animals that you can see them everywhere. They are the one of the beautiful sea creatures; seashells, snails, sea slugs and clams with multi-colored shells that make it unique among others. They are renowned because of their shells and found in the reefs and beaches.
One of the features of mollusca is their ventral body wall that is used for locomotion and its dorsal body wall that forms a mantle, a flexible body wall cavity that covers the internal organs. The wall varies in shape in different species, is usually folded and is attached at the top of the body and covers it like a tent. Outside of the mantle the shell is formed. The wall is covered by an epidermis that contains gland cells that secrete mucus, siphons food, and for walking.
Shells are formed during secretions and there are some molusca that do not have shell as it is secreted.
When it comes to eating the digestive features of mollusca is complex. The foregut region consists of an esophagus and passing the food to the toothed belted radula that scrapes the food. The number of radula varies per specie and their stomachs are also complex and are different in each molluscan species. Radula as a hollow poison teeth is used as weapons against their enemies.
Mollusca breath through their gills which is located in the mantle cavity meaning the gas exchange is don’t through gills, lung, and mantle or body surface. The features of mollusca found in the inland differ from that of the oceanic species. They normally excrete their wastes through the anus and also through the gill surfaces. They have the best-developed sensory organs and have heart, blood vessel and sinuses. Most mollusca have blood that contains a respiratory pigment called hemocyanin that becomes colorless when deoxygenated and bluish when oxygenated.
One of the features of mollusca that same so strange is the way they reproduce. They can reproduce sexually. Mollusks can be either male or female and has its own excretory systems and reproduces sexually through its organ called a gonad. To avoid self-fertilization they lay and the sperms and eggs in different intervals and at different times. Adult female clams on the other hand usually produce eggs and the adult male clams produce sperm and both eggs and sperm are released into the water and let them contact and fertilize. After the fertilization took place in few hours it becomes a very tiny creature living and swimming free near the surface of the water. The sexual reproduction, formation and development of larvae among mollusks can be best described by diagrams and you can find most of this information online.
