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.
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
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The consequences of a warming climate are known to be dangerous for marine ecosystems, with environmental changes like ocean acidification and warming, disrupted nutrient supplies, and rising sea levels. For mollusks, important ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 28, 2025
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Another rare lobster is making a splash at Northeastern University's Marine Science Center in Nahant. The brilliantly colored orange and black lobster is called a calico, and the odds of catching one are believed to be only ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 13, 2025
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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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