One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, a phylum including the classes Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Pteropoda, Scaphopoda, and Pelecyopoda (syn. Bivalvia, formerly called Lamellibranchiata, or Conchifera). These animals have an unsegmented bilateral body, with most of the organs and parts paired, but not repeated longitudinally. Most of them develop a mantle, which incloses either a branchial or a pulmonary cavity. They are generally more or less covered and protected by a calcareous shell, which may be univalve, bivalve, or multivalve.
Phylum which includes soft-bodied organisms either having an external shell which is single, double, or of eight plates or having an internal shell (as in a squid or octopus). This phylum includes many easily recognizable Chesapeake Bay species including oysters and clams.
a large group of invertebrates, found primarily in salt water, including clasm, oysters, and snails. Most mollusks have a hard, limy outer shell protecting a soft body, but some, as in the squid and octopus, lack this type of shell. Many have a muscular foot found ventrally.
gastropods; bivalves; cephalopods; chitons
Phylum Mollusca includes the major classes Bivalvia, Gastropoda, and Cephalopoda. The invertebrate mollusc organism has an unsegmented body with a calcareous exoskeleton.
phylum of bilaterally symmetrical invertebrates. Primarily marine invertebrates, but also includes land snails and slugs.
One of the great divisions of the Animal Kingdom, including those animals which have a soft body, usually furnished with a shell, and in which the nervous ganglia, or centres, present no definite general arrangement. They are generally known under the denomination of “shell-fish”; the cuttle-fish, and the common snails, whelks, oysters, mussels, and cockles, may serve as examples of them. 123
The molluscs (British spelling) or mollusks (American spelling) are the large and diverse phylum Mollusca, which includes a variety of familiar animals well-known for their decorative shells or as seafood. These range from tiny snails, clams, and abalone to squid, cuttlefish and the octopus (which is considered the most intelligent invertebrate). There are some 112,000 species within this phylum.Feldkamp, Susan (2002).