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 ID# : 80584
 Visits: 4348
 Added: 15-Apr-2005
 Updated: 01-Nov-2012
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 Editors
 Census of Marine Life
 Edward Vanden Berghe
 John Everett
 Frances B. Michaelis
 
 
 
 
Mollusks Maintained by CoML  
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Mollusks
 
Argonauta argo, the Greater Argonaut, a cephalopodThe Mollusks are one of the most successful phyla with over 100 000 living species and are found worldwide. Search Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) for databases of mollusk distribution. They have a head-foot complex, a mantle that secretes a calcium carbonate shell and a gill, suspended in the mantle cavity, which is used for respiration and commonly for suspension feeding. There are several kinds of mollusks:
  • Gastropoda (snails),
  • Bivalvia (clams, oysters and mussels),
  • Cephalopoda (squid and octopus),
  • Polyplacophora (chitons) and
  • Scaphopoda (tusk shells).
Mollusks have an important role to play in the ecosystem, varying from the herbivorous chitons feeding on microalgae and seaweeds attached to rocks; bivalves filtering phytoplankton and organic matter in sediment; the shipworm Teredo which bores into wood; to the specialist carnivores like octopuses feeding on individual crab species. Many species are important for aquaculture.
Based on Levinton, J S, “Marine Biology. Function, Biodiversity, Ecology” Oxford University Press.

This is a stamp showing Argonauta argo, the Greater Argonaut. The stamp was issued in 1956 (Michel-Nr. 796) by the former Yugoslavian authorities. (Caption courtesy of James B. Wood)
Photo title: Argonauta argo, the Greater Argonaut, a cephalopod
Photo credit: James B Wood
 
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Hinea brasiliana, the clusterwink snail, emitting light
Photo title: Hinea brasiliana, the clusterwink snail, emitting light
Photo credit: Dimitri Deheyn, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Census of Marine Life, now concluded, had a number of projects that included mollusks:
 
 
 
 
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Searchable database containing images, video, information on ecology, life history, catch statistic, distribution maps, direction guides, taxonomic identification keys and references CephBase Searchable database containing images, video, information on ecology, life hist...  
GMBIS is searchable database relating marine species' distributions to environmental parameters Gulf of Maine Biogeographic Information System GMBIS is searchable database relating marine species' distributions to environm...  
Information about the Indian Ocean South-East Asia Year of the Turtle 2006 Indian Ocean- South-East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding Information about the Indian Ocean South-East Asia Year of the Turtle 2006...  
Information on species found in seamount habitats that provides a freely-available online resource for searching, downloading, mapping, and analyzing patterns of biogeography in these data Seamounts Online Information on species found in seamount habitats that provides a freely-availa...  
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