Hello friends and welcome to a new Happy Learning video…Today we are going to learn about a very soft invertebrate animal…The molluscs.
There are many different types of molluscs and all are very different. Some are really small measuring only a few centimeters, such as clams, and others are enormous and can measure up to 20 meters, like this giant squid…he is larger than a truck!
Even though molluscs are very different from each other, they all have common characteristics which we must learn…
They have a soft body, an extremely soft body, and some protect their bodies with shells, such as this mussel and some decide to stay naked such as slugs.
Aquatic molluscs breath through their gills, like the octopus, but the terrestrial ones use their lungs…such as this quiet little snail.
In respect to what they eat; some molluscs are herbivores, such as barnacles, carnivores like the squid and omnivore such as clams…who eat everything.
Molluscs, as well as arthropods, are the most abundant invertebrate on our planet. As there are so many of them, in order to study them better, they have been divided into three smaller subgroups: the gastropods, the bivalves and the cephalopods.
The gastropods are named as such because of their foot being inside their stomachs. In Greek "gastro" means stomach and "pod" feet, it´s fascinating, isn't it? Well gastropods have their eyes located on top of their tentacles. Some are in shells like the snail and others don’t have a shell such as slugs.
The bivalve have two shells which they can close very tightly and like that be able to protect their soft bodies. Mussels, ousters, and clams all belong to this group.
The cephalopods are names after their feet coming out of their head. "Cepha" means head and pod, as I mention before is feet. It´s so interesting isn't it?
The cephalopods use their tentacles to capture animals which they want to eat. All cephalopods live in the sea and some have internal shells, such as the squid, and other like this slippery octopus, don’t have a shell.
Well now we know a little bit more about molluscs. Now it's time to remind you that we must take care of nature as well as all living creatures. We should not dirty the seas, nor rivers and we must maintain the whole ecosystem clean. Please always remember this, ok?
Good bye friend and don’t forget to subscribe to Happy Learning