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.
Scientists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, as part of an international research team, have studied the land snail and slug fauna in northern Vietnam's Cuc Phuong National Park. The now-published findings document an ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 30, 2025
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Octopuses are among the most neurologically complex invertebrates, famed for their extraordinary dexterity. Their eight arms allow them to capture hidden prey, communicate, explore, and even mate across varied habitats.
Plants & Animals
Sep 11, 2025
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Over 100 million years ago, long before the extinction of land-dwelling dinosaurs, there lived a group of massive clams called Inoceramus.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 27, 2025
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Nautiloids—a lineage of ancient, externally-shelled cephalopods that diverged from their octopus and squid relatives over 400 million years ago—once dominated our oceans.
Plants & Animals
Aug 14, 2025
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At a humming factory in the Spanish town of O Carballino, workers sling dozens of limp octopuses into a metal cauldron, wincing as strings of slime splatter their aprons. Nearby, others slice tentacles and pack them into ...
Ecology
Aug 13, 2025
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A Chinese submersible has discovered thousands of worms and mollusks nearly 10 kilometers (six miles) below sea level in the Mariana Trench, the deepest colony of creatures ever observed, a study revealed on Wednesday.
Plants & Animals
Jul 30, 2025
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Biogeographical regions of marine organisms, i.e., their distribution across different habitats, often overlap well with the major global ocean currents. The geological age of the currents plays a major role in this. The ...
Ecology
Jul 2, 2025
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The teeth of a mollusk can not only capture and chew food to nurture its body, but the marine choppers also hold insights into creating advanced, lower-cost and environmentally friendly materials.
Nanomaterials
Mar 17, 2022
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356
In research that could inform future high-performance nanomaterials, a University of Michigan-led team has uncovered for the first time how mollusks build ultradurable structures with a level of symmetry that outstrips everything ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 21, 2021
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