What is the locomotion of gastropods?

Gastropods move using a single appendage—the foot. For many gastropods the power for locomotion is provided by muscular waves moving along the ventral surface of the foot1–3, the force of these waves being coupled to the substratum by a thin layer of pedal mucus.

What is locomotion in molluscs?

Molluscs move by crawling over or burrowing into substrata and by swimming.

Are gastropods motile?

Most gastropods are motile, but some, e.g., the slipper shell (Crepidula), are sedentary. Some, such as the sea butterflies, swim, and others, including the terrestrial snails, move by means of a well-developed foot.

Do gastropods have gills?

The gills, or ctenidia, of marine gastropods serve as the sites for respiratory gas exchange. Cilia on the surface provide the pump that moves water through the mantle cavity and enhance diffusion. Because the gills are housed inside the shell, it is difficult to view them while they are functioning.

What does gastropod mean?

Definition of gastropod : any of a large class (Gastropoda) of mollusks (such as snails and slugs) usually with a univalve shell or none and a distinct head bearing sensory organs.

Why is it called a gastropod?

Snails and slugs are known as gastropods, which mean ‘stomach foot’. This describes the way in which the body and internal organs of slugs and snails has been twisted back so that the stomach lies above the large fleshy foot of these animals.

What do gastropods do?

Some gastropods are scavengers, feeding on dead plant or animal matter; others are predators; some are herbivores, feeding on algae or plant material; and a few species are external or internal parasites of other invertebrates.

How do gastropods defend themselves?

In many gastropods, slippery mucus is secreted from mantle extensions, or parapodia, as a defense against larger predators, such as sea stars (starfish). In scaphopods, mucus is secreted against an aggressor from the anterior mantle.

How do gastropods breathe underwater?

Like insects, gastropods are ectotherms that utilise various modes of respiration: all gastropods breathe through their skin but some species also use gills to retrieve oxygen from the water (e.g. caenogastropods), while others have a lung which they use to breathe air (pulmonates).