Why are gastropods called stomach footed?
The word gastropod comes from Greek and means “stomach foot,” a name that owes its existence to the unusual anatomy of snails. This foot runs along the underside of the animal—essentially along its belly.
What are gastropods called stomach footed animals?
Snails and slugs are known as gastropods, which mean ‘stomach foot’. This describes the way in which the body and internal organs of slugs and snails has been twisted back so that the stomach lies above the large fleshy foot of these animals.
What are the major molluscan group?
The major classes of living mollusks include gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods (Figure below).
What are stomach footed mollusks called?
Animals in class Gastropoda (“stomach foot”) include well-known mollusks like snails, slugs, conchs, sea hares, and sea butterflies. Gastropoda includes shell-bearing species as well as species with a reduced shell.
Are gastropod mollusks segmented?
Slugs and snails (phylum Mollusca: class Gastropoda) are soft-bodied, non-segmented invertebrates with the body composed of three regions: head, foot and visceral mass.
What are the 6 categories of mollusks?
Mollusks can be segregated into seven classes: Aplacophora, Monoplacophora, Polyplacophora, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, and Scaphopoda. These classes are distinguished by, among other criteria, the presence and types of shells they possess.
What mollusks belong to Gastropoda?
snails
The Class Gastropoda (in Phylum Mollusca) includes the groups pertaining to snails and slugs. The majority of gastropods have a single, usually spirally, coiled shell into which the body can be withdrawn.
What mollusks belong to bivalvia?
Clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops are members to the class Bivalvia (or Pelecypodia). Bivalves have two shells, connected by a flexible ligament, which encase and shield the soft vulnerable parts of the creature.
Which characteristic do all mollusks have?
WHAT FEATURES DO MOLLUSKS HAVE IN COMMON? As well as a shell, most mollusks have a muscular foot for creeping or burrowing. Some also have a head with sense organs. The soft body includes lungs or gills for breathing, and digestive and reproductive parts, all enclosed by a skinlike organ called the mantle.
What is the importance of mollusks?
Mollusks are important in a variety of ways; they are used as food, for decoration, in jewelry, and in scientific studies. They are even used as roadbed material and in vitamin supplements.
Why are gastropods called stomach footed animals?
May 28, 2015. From : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gastropod. “The word gastropod comes from Greek and means “stomach foot,” a name that owes its existence to the unusual anatomy of snails. While they don’t have feet like ours, exactly, snails have a broad flat “foot” used for support and for forward movement.
Which is the most diverse group of mollusks?
The gastropods, the “belly-footed” mollusks, are the most varied and abundant of the mol-luskan classes today. The group includes the snails and slugs, forms both with and without a calcareous shell.
How is the shell of a gastropod coiled?
The coiling of the gastropod shell is unrelated to the rotation of the soft parts. Following torsion, the mantle cavity and anus are open anteriorly and the shell is coiled posteriorly in an endo-gastric position, in contrast to the exogastric style of the “monoplacophoran” grade shell.
What kind of Foot does a snail have?
While they don’t have feet like ours, exactly, snails have a broad flat “foot” used for support and for forward movement. This foot runs along the underside of the animal—essentially along its belly.”.