Mollusca Phylum
The Mollusca phylum includes snails, slugs, clams, squids and octopi. Those animals are organized into classes within the phylum.The Mollusca phylum is made of animals, that have soft bodes and or internal/external shells. Evolution has led to the dissapearance and reduction of shell size in animals like slugs, squid and octopi. . Mollusks also have a considerable mental capacity. Mollusks have three distinct body zones; a head-foot (sensory and motor organs), a visceral mass (pretty much a stomach) and a mantle (shell).
Octopuses
The octopus is a cephalopod that inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. They have a very short life span. Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually with sucker cups on them. Each arm has two rows of suction cups. An octopus uses its mantle to breathe. It has 'mantle slits' behind the eyes. It draws in water through the slits into the mantle. Two gills remove the oxygen from the water, then the slits close and the water is released through a tube called the siphon. Octopi have a very unique way of capturing animals. They use their muscle structure on their arms to wrap and hold prey while they kill it with constriction in a very unique way.
click the line and watch an octopus in motion_
click the line and watch an octopus in motion_
Slugs
A tough-skinned terrestrial mollusk that typically lacks a shell and secretes a film of mucus. Slugs are animals that can live in both land and water. Slugs use there whole body as a control for motion. Slugs use sensory organs to see and they are very slow animals because the way they travel frequencies a lot of movement. Slugs have a suction like underbelly that is lubricated too help the slug move and to help it cling to objects
Squids
The squid has an elongated body, marked at one end with two fins used to stabilize it while it swims. It has 8arms, and two longer tentacles, which are used for grasping and manipulating food. The body of a squid is covered with a mantle, a flexible layer of tissue which protects the delicate inner organs. Inside the mantle is the pen of the squid, a hard protrusion which is all that remains of the squid's shelled ancestors.Propulsion is the primary mode of movement for squid. They push water through their central cavities to create a jet of water, and can move quite rapidly using this technique. Like their relatives the octopi, squid are extremely intelligent.