mollusc

/ ˈmɒləsk; mɒˈlʌskən /

noun

any invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, having a soft unsegmented body and often a shell, secreted by a fold of skin (the mantle). The group includes the gastropods (snails, slugs, etc), bivalves (clams, mussels, etc), and cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopuses, etc)

Origin of mollusc¹

C18: via New Latin from Latin molluscus, from mollis soft

They were as two horns which the sluggish heath had put forth from its crown, like a mollusc, and had now again drawn in.

Some of these holes are the empty burrows of a boring mollusc, while others still contain the living animal in situ.

The mollusc Cyrena fluminalis, indicative of a sub-tropical climate, has been found in these strata.

Radula, rad′ū-la, n. the tongue or lingual ribbon of a mollusc.

The bent form of the embryonic heart recalls the heart of spiders; it lies at first free, as in the mollusc Anomia.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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