Gastropoda

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/gastropoda

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Gastropoda. This class is the largest within the phylum Mollusca
2. What are gastropods?Gastropods are snails, slugs, and sea slugs, the biggest group of crawling animals on Earth. They usually have a single, coiled shell that helps protect them.
3. Why do some gastropods have no shells?Some gastropods, like slugs and nudibranchs, have lost their shells to help them burrow, hunt, or live in places where a shell would be a problem.

Phylum Mollusca: A diverse phylum of invertebrate animals characterized by a soft body, often protected by a shell, and including classes like Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Cephalopoda.
Radula: A unique, chitinous ribbon bearing rows of microscopic teeth, used by gastropods for scraping, cutting, or drilling food items.
Nudibranch: A type of shell-less marine gastropod, often brightly colored, known for its specialized feeding habits and defensive adaptations.
Desiccation: The process of drying out, a significant challenge for terrestrial and intertidal organisms that gastropods have adapted to overcome.