Thursday 19 January 2012
molluscs are a group of animals that include snails,
clams and squid. most molluscs have a muscular 'foot',
which they use to move around
a heavy shell, such as this helmet shell, protects the soft
body of a snail. when threatened, the snail retreats into
its shell. this is a spiral shell but some are cone-shaped
nudibranch is a soft-bodied sea slug that have no shell
without a shell for protection, he uses poison to
defend himself against predators
his brightly colored body will warn other animals
that he's poisonous
giant clam is a bivalve - a snail with two shells that are
hinged together. clams stay in one place on the reef,
sucking water into their body & filtering out plankton
their color come from algae, which live in their cell
& provide the clams with food
flamingo tongue snails are coral eaters. as they crawl
over the coral, their feet release digestive juices
the juices dissolve the polyps and the snails
absorb the nutrients through their foot
the largest giant clams grow to more than a meter across,
weigh more than 200 kg & can live for up to 100 years
credits: my first ocean life encyclopedia, yahoo, google, flickr & various data
