Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

38 results found

Mollusca

(Encyclopedia)Mollusca məlŭsˈkə [key], taxonomic name for the one of the largest phyla of invertebrate animals (Arthropoda is the largest) comprising more than 50,000 living mollusk species and about 35,000 fos...

mollusk

(Encyclopedia)mollusk: see Mollusca.

scaphopod

(Encyclopedia)scaphopod: see Mollusca.

shellfish

(Encyclopedia)shellfish, popular name for certain edible mollusks (see Mollusca), e.g., oysters, clams, and scallops, and for certain edible crustaceans, e.g., crabs, lobsters, and shrimps. All are aquatic inverteb...

periwinkle, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)periwinkle, any of a group of marine gastropod mollusks having conical, spiral shells. Periwinkles feed on algae and seaweed. They are found at the water's edge; out of water, they resist drying by cl...

limpet

(Encyclopedia)limpet, marine gastropod mollusk with a simple, flattened, conical shell, found in cooler waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Certain species creep over rocks, feeding on algae during high ...

ammonite

(Encyclopedia)ammonite ămˈənīt [key], one of a type of extinct marine cephalopod mollusk, related to the nautilus and resembling it in having an elaborately coiled and chambered shell. Unlike the interiors of n...

slug

(Encyclopedia)slug, name for a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in which the characteristic molluscan shell is reduced to a thin plate embedded in the tissues. Like the terrestrial snails of the same order, slugs have...

abalone

(Encyclopedia)abalone ăbəlōˈnē [key], popular name in the United States for a univalve gastropod mollusk of the genus Haliotis, members of which are also called ear shells, or sea ears, as their shape resemble...

Browse by Subject