Evolution of highly diverse forms of behavior in molluscs

Binyamin Hochner*, David L. Glanzman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Members of the phylum Mollusca demonstrate the animal kingdom's tremendous diversity of body morphology, size and complexity of the nervous system, as well as diversity of behavioral repertoires, ranging from very simple to highly flexible. Molluscs include Solenogastres, with their worm-like bodies and behavior (see phylogenetic tree; Figure 1); Bivalvia (mussels and clams), protected by shells and practically immobile; and the cephalopods, such as the octopus, cuttlefish and squid. The latter are strange-looking animals with nervous systems comprising up to half a billion neurons, which mediate the complex behaviors that characterize these freely moving, highly visual predators. Molluscs are undoubtedly special — their extraordinary evolutionary advance somehow managed to sidestep the acquisition of the rigid skeleton that appears essential to the evolution of other ‘successful’ phyla: the exoskeleton in ecdysozoan invertebrates and the internal skeleton in Deuterostomia, including vertebrates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)R965-R971
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume26
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Oct 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd

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