Mollusks are soft-bodied animals with a hard protective covering like shells. There are many types of mollusks including clams, oysters, snails, squid and octopi. Mollusks have features like a mantle, gills, and muscular foot and come in three main classes: gastropods like snails, bivalves like clams, and cephalopods like squid.

1. Mollusks are soft-bodied animals with a hard protective covering.

2. There are many types of mollusks, including clams, oysters, snails, squid and octopi. There are many Mollusks that we eat!

4. Mollusks have a mantle , which is protective tissue Covering its body. They breathe using gills , and they Move using a muscular foot .

5. One advancement that mollusks have is an open circulatory system. The blood is not always inside of veins.

6. Gastropods(snails) have adapted to life on land. This is a big step! Most gastropods are covered with a protective shell. Many have eyes.

7. Gastropods use a radula, a rough tongue, to eat by scraping off food.

8. The next class of mollusks is bivalves, which includes clams and oysters

9. Bivalves are covered by a hard protective Hinged shell, like this giant clam below.

10. The last class of mollusks is cephalopods, Which includes octopi and squid. Cephalopod means “head-foot”. Can you see why it has this name?

12. Fact or fiction?

13. Here is a photo of a real giant squid.

14. The squid in the previous picture measured 50 feet long and weighed 5000 lbs.! It’s eyes would be almost the size of a soccer ball. And here’s an interesting fact….in the water, Giant squid are “Horace Mann” maroon in color. Perhaps we should reconsider our mascot?