Molluscs: Bivalves, snails, chitons, scaphopods and cephalopods
Mollusks are one of the most prominat and familiar groups of sea bottom organisms. All mollusks have a muscular foot and some form of hard shell produced by the mantle tissue, although ist has be completley lost in nudibranchs and octopods.
All modes of lifestyle and feeding can be observed within the different mollusks, and their habit ranges from the upper boundaries of the inter-tidal, to the deepest depths of the Arctic. They can be found on hard bottoms, and on or in the sediments. Some are permantly cemented in place (or to each other), while others crawl around actively. Their mode of feeding ranges from filter-feedering clam and mussels, to herbivorous and predatory snails. In the arctic, sizes range from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters.
Page Author: Russ Hopcroft
Created: Oct 24, 2008