Phylum Mollusca compose the large phylum of invertebrate animals known as the phylum Mollusca.

a. Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs also live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are highly diverse, not only in size and in anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and in habitat. The phylum is typically divided into 9 or 10 taxonomic classes, of which two are entirely extinct. Cephalopod molluscs, such as squid, cuttlefish and octopus, are among the most neurologically advanced of all invertebratesand either the giant squidor the colossal squid is the largest known invertebrate species. The gastropods (snails and slugs) are by far the most numerous molluscs in terms of classified species, and account for 80% of the total.

Molluscan Characteristics 1. Body of two parts: head-foot and visceral mass 2. Mantle that secretes a calcareous shell and covers the visceral mass. 3. Mantle cavity functions in excretion, gas exchange, elimination of digestive wastes, and release of reproductive products 4. Bilateral symmetry 5. Trochophore larvae, spiral cleavage, and schizocoelous coelom formation 6. Coelom reduced to cavities surrounding the heart, nephridia and gonads 7. Open circulatory system in all but one class (Cephalopoda) 8. Radula usually present and used in scraping food Three main regions of the Mollusc Body Head-foot- elongate with an anterior head, containing the mouth and certain nervous and sensory structures, and an elongate foot, used for attachment and locomotion. Visceral mass- contains the organs of digestion, circulation, reproduction, and excretion and is positioned dorsal to the head-foot Mantle- attaches to the visceral mass, enfolds most of the body, and may secrete a shell that overlies the mantle

Classification of the Mollusca

Class Caudofoveata

Class Aplacophora Class Polyplacophora

Class Monoplacophora

Wormlike molluscs with a cylindrical, shellless body and scale like, calcareous spicules; lack eyes, tentacles, statocysts, crystalline style, foot and nephridia. Deep water marine burrowers Shell, mantle, and foot lacking; wormlike; head poorly developed; burrowing mollusc Elongate,dorsoventrally flattened; head reduced in size; shell consisting of eight dorsal plates. Marine, on rocky intertidal substrates Molluscs with a single arched shell; foot broad and flat; certain structures serially repeated. Marine. Body enclosed in a tubular shell that is open at both ends; tentacles used for deposit feeding; no head. Marine. Body enclosed in shell consisting of two valves, hinged dorsally; no head or radula; wedge-shaped foot. Marine and freshwater Shell, when present, usually coiled; body symmetry distorted by torsion; some monoecious species. Marine, freshwater, terrestrial Foot modified into a circle of tentacles and a siphon; shell reduced or absent; head in line with the elongate visceral mass. Marine.

Class Scaphopoda

Class Bivalvia

Class Gastropoda

Class Cephalopoda

Phylum Echinodermata

are a phylum of marine animals. The adults are recognizable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include such well-known animals as starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7000 living species, making it the secondlargest grouping of deuterostomes (a superphylum), after the chordates (which include the vertebrates, such as humans, sharksand frogs). Echinoderms are also the largest phylum that has no freshwater or terrestrial (land-based) representatives. The echinoderms are important both biologically and geologically. Biologically, there are few other groupings so abundant in the biotic desert of the deep sea, as well as shallower oceans. The more notably distinct trait, which most echinoderms have, is their remarkable powers of regeneration of tissue, organs, limbs, and of asexual reproduction, and in some cases, complete regeneration from a single limb. Geologically, the value of echinoderms is in their ossified skeletons, which are major contributors to many limestone formations, and can provide valuable clues as to the geological environment. Further, it is held by some scientists that the radiation of echinoderms was responsible for the Mesozoic revolution of marine life

Characteristics of Echinoderms: 1. Pentaradial symmetry- body parts are arranged in fives, or a multiple of five, around an oral- aboral axis 2. The echinoderm skeleton consists of a series of calcium carbonate plates called ossicles. 3. The water vascular system of echinoderms is a series of water-filled canals, and their extensions are called tube feet. 4. A hemal system consists of strands of tissue that encircle an echinoderm near the ring canal of the water vascular system and run into each arm near the radial canals.

Classification of Echinodermata

Class Crinoidea

Class Asteroidea

Class Ophiuroidea

Class Echinoidea

Class Holothuroidea

Free living or attached by an aboral stalk of ossicles, flourished in the Paleozoic era. Approximately 230 living species. Sea lilies, feather stars Rays not sharply set off from central disk; ambulactal grooves with tube feet; suction disks on tube feet; pedicellariae present. Sea stars. About 1500 species Arms sharply marked off from the central disk; tube feet without suction disks. Brittle stars. More than 2, 000 species. Globular or disk shaped ; no rays; movable spines; skeleton of closely fitting plates. Sea urchins, sand dollars. Approximately 1, 000 species No rays, elongate along the oral-aboral axis; microscopic ossicles embedded in a muscular body wall; circumoral tentacles. Sea cucumbers. Approximately 1,500 species

Molluscs

Echinoderms