What class do tusk shells belong to?
Class Scaphopoda
Tusk shells belong to the Class Scaphopoda, meaning “boat foot,” which refers to lobes near the animal’s foot resembling a boat hull. Scaphopods are strictly marine organisms that can live at an incredible depth of up to 4,570 meters — or more than 13,000 feet deep!
Who is commonly known as tusk shell?
Tusk shell, also called elephant’s tusk, elephant’s tooth, or tooth shell, any of several marine mollusks of the class Scaphopoda. There are four genera of tusk shells (Dentalium is typical and most common) and more than 350 species.
Where are tusk shell found?
Tusk shells are found in cool and warm water oceans worldwide, from seashores to depths down to about 23,000 feet (7,000 meters).
What is the scientific name for elephant tusk mollusc?
Shells of Dentalium rubescens, a Medi- terranean scaphopod. ( Source)
How do tusk shells move?
A tusk shell moves and searches for food with its buried head by extending its muscular foot outwards, then expanding a muscled disc that surrounds the far end of the foot. TLittle hairs (cilia) along the tentacles move small food particles back to the mouth. The tentacles retract to bring larger food to the mouth.
What are the characteristics of class Polyplacophora?
The main characteristics of Polyplacophora include (1) elongate or oval, dorsoventrally flattened, bilaterally symmetrical, marine; (2) with dorsal shell of eight plates embedded in a tough mantle; (3) mantle-edge stiffened (called the girdle); (4) large, muscular, ventral foot (girdle and foot can act as suction cup); …
What were Dentalium shells used for?
The word dentalium, as commonly used by Native American artists and anthropologists, refers to tooth shells or tusk shells used in indigenous jewelry, adornment, and commerce in western Canada and the United States. These tusk shells are a kind of seashell, specifically the shells of scaphopod mollusks.
Where do Dentalium shells come from?
Traditionally, the shells of Antalis pretiosa (previously known as Dentalium pretiosum, the precious dentalium (a species which occurs from Alaska to Baja California) were harvested from deep waters around the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, especially off the coast of Vancouver Island.
What are the characteristics of gastropods?
Most gastropods have a single, usually spirally coiled shell into which the body can be withdrawn, but the shell is lost or reduced some important groups. Gastropods are characterized by “torsion,” a process that results in the rotation of the visceral mass and mantle on the foot.
