Mollusks are a highly diverse phylum (Mollusca) of invertebrate animals that constitute a major topic in zoology and evolutionary biology, encompassing classes such as Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Cephalopoda. They are characterized by a soft, unsegmented body typically organized into head, visceral mass, and muscular foot, with many species secreting a calcareous shell from a specialized mantle. Research on mollusks addresses themes including biomineralization, neurobiology (especially in cephalopods), developmental and evolutionary genetics, functional morphology of feeding and locomotion, ecological roles in marine and freshwater systems, and their importance as model organisms in environmental toxicology and climate-change impact studies.
Cold spray whipped off the ropes as a diesel engine throbbed in the background. One by one, empty shellfish pots came over the side of the fishing boat, occasionally containing the remnants of crab and lobster claws and carapaces. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 31, 2026
0
49
A comprehensive new review paper reveals the staggering loss of biodiversity among island land snails globally. Lead author Robert Cowie of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 30, 2026
0
105
A new report has revealed that a dramatic population bloom of the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) off the South West coast is having significant effects on fisheries and marine ecosystems.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2026
0
49
A new study published in Conservation Biology examines the behavior and distribution of queen conch (Aliger gigas) to guide conservation management for the threatened sea snail.
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2026
0
25
Almost a half-mile below the surface of Monterey Bay, California, scientists have recorded rare footage of a seven-arm octopus— only the fourth time the same research team has spotted the species in about four decades.
Plants & Animals
Dec 15, 2025
0
431
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, when colonialism was the prevailing order, it is not surprising that scientific expeditions, specimen deposits in natural history museums, and descriptions of species from European colonies ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 10, 2025
0
28
A tiny freshwater snail from New Zealand is giving scientists a glimpse into evolution in motion. University of Iowa biologists have traced the snail's evolutionary history through its genome and discovered that the species ...
Evolution
Nov 12, 2025
0
20
Research teams from the Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University have documented the first discovery of five freshwater mollusk species in the Early Pleistocene Tananwan Formation of northern Taiwan. This pivotal finding, ...
Ecology
Nov 7, 2025
0
506
In the inky depths of the Central Pacific Ocean, nearly 2,400 meters below the surface, scientists have discovered a new species of deep-sea limpet clinging to a sunken log.
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2025
0
59
A new study has unexpectedly discovered that a common parasite of modern oysters actually started infecting bivalves hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs went extinct.
Ecology
Nov 4, 2025
0
160
