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Posts Tagged ‘molluscs’

Shells are beautiful and many people love to collect them. Shells are the protective covering of soft bodied animals called molluscs. There are many types and classes of molluscs. Each class of molluscs has a distinct type of shell. A shell has many parts that are named protoconch, sculpture, varix, spiral sculpture, suture, sprial ribs, inner lip, out lip, etc.

Five major types of shells

1. Gastropoda
2. Bivalvia
3. Cephalopoda
4. Amphineura
5. Scaphopoda

Gastropods have s single shell which is usually coiled such as in snails, limpets and whelks. Bivalves have two shells or valves which are usually equal in size and are joined by a hinge. Mussels and oysters have these. Cephalopods usually have no shell or have shell outside or inside the animal’s soft body. They also have tentacles. Examples are squid, octopus and cuttlefish. Amphineura have a flexible shell. Scaphopods start off wth tiny bivalves that fuse together later on to form a tapering tube with open ends.

If you want to learn more about seashells, here is a great book. The book contains both photographs and text regarding shells. The shells are arranged in a variety of settings from natural to artful and we see the grandeur and beauty of these objects that we often take for granted.

Seashells