Discovering Life on a Living Planet

[SI Homepage] Mollusks


The second largest phylum after arthropoda, Mollusca includes more than 70,000 species, including snails, clams, squids, and octopuses. Their primary characteristic is the hard shell to protect their soft bodies. Even squids and octopi retain evolutionary fragments of internal shells, as they usually lack external ones.

The Smithsonian's Mollusk Collection contains more than 15 million specimens. Biologists study them to discover how these animals live and adapt. One of the most beautiful--and deadly--mollusk families represented here is the Conidae, a group of marine snails with cone-shaped shells. They possess a harpoon-shaped hollow tooth containing a potent neurotoxin that paralyzes their prey and can kill humans.


[snails]
Cuban Land Snails		 [shell]
Imperial Delphinus		 [shell]
Rose Branch Murex
[shells]
True Heart Cockle		 [marine]
Trumpet Triton		 [cowrie]
Eyed Cowrie
[geocone]
Geography Cone		 [marble]
Marble Cone		 [tusk]
Elephant Tusk
[star]
Yoka Star Turban		 [abalone]
Staircase Abalone		 [mossy]
Mossy Mopalia
[austral]
Austral Scallop		 [noble]
Noble Scallop		 [oyster]
Regal Thorny Oyster
[cowrie]
Golden Cowrie		 [conch]
False Scorpio Conch		 [tusk]
Formosan Tusk

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