The History of MOLLUSCS

Molluscs are one of the oldest and most versatile animal lineages on Earth, tracing their origins back over 530–540 million years to early Cambrian seas, where the first stem-molluscs and simple shelled forms appear in the fossil record. From these early slug-like and limpet-like ancestors, the group rapidly diversified into an extraordinary range of body plans: armored chitons, burrowing bivalves, mobile snails and slugs, and the highly derived cephalopods. Today, octopuses, cuttlefish and squid represent the peak of invertebrate neural complexity, with large, intricately organized brains, sophisticated learning abilities and flexible problem-solving that rival some vertebrates. The evolutionary journey of molluscs thus reveals an unsuspected depth of anatomical and cognitive complexity, arising from soft-bodied seafloor crawlers to the curious, shape-shifting “aliens” of our modern oceans. Compilation of these 5 videos : Part one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHZXizBIS4 Part two - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHnPXMk5daY Part three - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhWPLVhxbRw Part four - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAJeI-p4pbA Part five - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq1X7ImllJ8 Music by Karl Casey Illustrations by Satoshi Kawasaki and Ceri Thomas Icons next to names indicate the diet : 🦠Bacteria/Sediments / 🦐Plankton/Micro-organisms / 🪵Wood / 🌱Seaweed/Algae / 🦠 Bacteria / 💮Coral/Reef organisms / 🐟Fish / 🦴Sediment/Dead animals / 🐙Jellyfish / 🌿Vegetation / 🪱Invertebrates / 🍄Mushrooms / 🦀Aquatic arthropods / 🐚Ammonites / 🦑Cephalopoda / 🦪Shelly mollusks