Do mollusks lay eggs?
Mollusks reproduce sexually, and most species have separate sexes. Sexual reproduction is achieved by the formation and fusion of gametes: sperm and eggs. During external fertilization, the female lays eggs, and they are fertilized by the male sperm outside of the female’s body.
How do molluscs reproduce?
Mollusks are primarily of separate sexes, and the reproductive organs (gonads) are simple. Most reproduction, however, is by sexual means. Eggs and sperm are released into the water by members of some (primitive) species, and fertilization occurs there.
What is a mollusk larvae called?
veliger, larva typical of certain mollusks such as marine snails and bivalves and a few freshwater bivalves. The veliger develops from the trochophore (q.v.) larva and has large, ciliated lobes (velum).
Can mollusks reproduce asexually?
Mollusk reproduce asexually by being hermaphroditic where they are both male and female they also asexually reproduce by budding.
Do mollusks have sexes?
Mollusks are primarily of separate sexes, and the reproductive organs (gonads) are simple. Both male and female reproductive organs may be present in one individual (hermaphroditism) in some species, and various groups exhibit different adaptations to this body form.
What does a Mollusca eat?
algae
Most molluscs are herbivorous, grazing on algae or filter feeders. For those grazing, two feeding strategies are predominant. Some feed on microscopic, filamentous algae, often using their radula as a ‘rake’ to comb up filaments from the sea floor.
Which female mollusc dies immediately after reproduction?
female octopus
The female octopus will lay 50 to 100 eggs and carries them around in the area between her tentacles. While guarding her eggs, she doesn’t eat and will die shortly after they hatch.
Where does fertilization occur in molluscs?
Fertilization can be either internal or external depending on the class and species. Internal fertilization takes place when the male transfers sperm into the body of the female through mating. During external fertilization, the female lays eggs, and they are fertilized by the male sperm outside of the female’s body.
Do mollusks have internal fertilization?
Molluscs that use such a system remain of one sex all their lives and rely on external fertilization. Some molluscs use internal fertilization and/or are hermaphrodites, functioning as both sexes; both of these methods require more complex reproductive systems.
Is an octopus a mollusk?
octopus, plural octopuses or octopi, in general, any eight-armed cephalopod (octopod) mollusk of the order Octopoda. The true octopuses are members of the genus Octopus, a large group of widely distributed shallow-water cephalopods.
What are juvenile mollusks called?
Like many invertebrates, the mollusk life cycle includes one or more juvenile or larval stages that are very different from the adult form of the animal. Both mollusks and annelids develop through a larval stage called a trochophore larva. A sketch of a veliger larva. …