

Molluscs
Mollusc Videos
Animation
Behavior
General Info
Role in Ecosystem
Climate
Human Interaction
Paleontology
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Lesson Plan
Life in the Fast Lane – From Hunted to HunterLab dissection of a squid, a member of Class Cephalopoda (along with the octopus and nautilus). Supported by several Shape of Life segments, students interpret squid adaptations as a radical case of divergent evolution: A line of ancestral snails abandoned the life of sluggish grazing and foraging in favor of a new niche as speedy open water predators.Full Lesson Plan
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Factsheet
Molluscs: Beauty and DiversityThe diversity of molluscs shows how a fleshy soft body plan can evolve into a variety of forms.Download Factsheet
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Reading
Molluscs: Armor and Speed, the Survival Game"As the tide rises, the closed molluscs opens a fraction to the ocean's food, bathed in its riches. Do not ask what force would do, or if force could. A knife is no use against a fortress."Download Reading
Features
Creature
Blue Glaucus
A spectacular-looking example of an animal in the plankton is Glaucus, a pelagic (open sea) sea slug. Sea slugs are nudibranchs, in the mollusc phylum. The blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus) is also called the blue dragon, sea swallow or blue angel.
Blue Glaucus
A spectacular-looking example of an animal in the plankton is Glaucus, a pelagic (open sea) sea slug. Sea slugs are nudibranchs, in the mollusc phylum. The blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus) is also called the blue dragon, sea swallow or blue angel.

Did You Know?
Some Cephalopods Will Thrive in the Changing Climate
Generally the future of the ocean and its inhabitants, due to the climate crisis, doesn’t give us reason for optimism. But there seems to be hope for some cephalopod species to thrive.
Some Cephalopods Will Thrive in the Changing Climate
Generally the future of the ocean and its inhabitants, due to the climate crisis, doesn’t give us reason for optimism. But there seems to be hope for some cephalopod species to thrive.

Shape of Life Blog
Octopus Intelligence
“Brainy, colorful, fast, sophisticated, strange, inspiring – cephalopods have been on the planet for about 500 million years and have fascinated humans for thousands of year.” Octopus, Squid & Cuttlefish: A Visual, Scientific Guide To The Oceans.
Octopus Intelligence
“Brainy, colorful, fast, sophisticated, strange, inspiring – cephalopods have been on the planet for about 500 million years and have fascinated humans for thousands of year.” Octopus, Squid & Cuttlefish: A Visual, Scientific Guide To The Oceans.
