Sites

Class Aplacophora - English
URL: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/mollusca/aplacophora.html

These organisms lack shells and are worm-like in body form. They have calcareous scales or spicules in their integument. Aplacophorans lack nephridia. All are marine; around 320 species are known, mostly from the deep oceans. They can be divided into two groups (sometimes separated as Classes Caudofoveata and Solenogastres); caudofoveates are burrowers that feed on detritus and bottom-dwelling microorganisms, while soleonogasters, which also live on the bottom, feed on cnidarians.

[ eng ]

The Taxonomy of the Aplacophora, Deep-Sea Mollusks - English
URL: http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/aplacophora/

A global collection of the deep-sea Aplacophora comprising some 20,000 specimens from about 60 surveys and expeditions will be monographed and a relational database developed along with keys, images, and short descriptions will be made available on the Internet. The Aplacophora are one of the seven extant classes of the Phylum Mollusca. Aplacophorans are vermiform and spicule-bearing. There are about 300 described species. Measurements, hard-part morphologies (epidermal spicules, copulatory spicules, and dissected radulae), and body shape as well as internal anatomy are utilized to describe the species.

[ eng ]

Solenogaster - Britannica.com - English
URL: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/7/0,5716,70357 1 68579,00.html

Any small, wormlike, marine mollusk of the class Aplacophora. Unlike most mollusks, solenogasters have no shell. They are covered instead by a spiny cuticle. Most are 2.5 cm (1 inch) or less in length. The largest is 30 cm long. The animals occur at ocean depths of 30 to 1,800 m (100 to 5,900 feet). About 150 species are known.

[ eng ]