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An organism in Phylum Mollusca is characterized by being a soft-bodied, triploblastic, and coelomate animal. Their body is typically unsegmented and divided into three main parts: a distinct head with sensory organs, a visceral hump or mass containing the internal organs, and a muscular foot used for locomotion. A key feature is the mantle, a soft covering that often secretes a hard, calcareous shell for protection. General characters of Phylum Mollusca The name Mollusca (in Latin mollis = soft), was first used by the French Zoologist, Cuvier in 1798 to describe squids and cuttlefish, animals whose shell is reduced and internal or entirely absent. It was only later that the true affinities between squids and multiform and other molluscs such as snails and bivalves were fully recongnised. Next to arthopods from biodiversity perspective, molluscs comprise the largest group of species. Over 160,000 species ... What are Phylum Mollusca ? Phylum Mollusca , ranking as the second-largest phylum in the animal kingdom after Arthropoda, is distinguished by its members known as molluscs or mollusks. This phylum is characterized by approximately 76,000 extant species, with an estimated additional 60,000 to 100,000 fossil species. The high proportion of yet-to-be-described species indicates a vast, unexplored diversity within this group. Molluscs are predominantly marine organisms, accounting for about 23% of ... Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks[b] (/ ˈmɒləsks /). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. [6]
