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Edible molluscs are harvested from saltwater, freshwater, and the land, and include numerous members of the classes Gastropoda (snails), Bivalvia (clams, scallops, oysters etc.), Cephalopoda (octopus and squid), and Polyplacophora (chitons). Many species of molluscs are eaten worldwide, either cooked or raw.
The pelagic food web, showing the central involvement of marine microorganisms in how the ocean imports nutrients from and then exports them back to the atmosphere and ocean floor. A marine food web is a food web of marine life. At the base of the ocean food web are single-celled algae and other plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton.
A species of sea snail in its natural habitat: two individuals of the wentletrap Epidendrium billeeanum with a mass of egg capsules in situ on their food source, a red cup coral. A sea snail Euthria cornea laying eggs. Sea snails are slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone.
Gastropods are found in a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, from deep ocean trenches to deserts. [citation needed] Some of the more familiar and better-known gastropods are terrestrial gastropods (the land snails and slugs). Some live in fresh water, but most named species of gastropods live in a marine environment.
Snails as a food date back to ancient times, with numerous cultures worldwide having traditions and practices that attest to their consumption. In the modern era snails are farmed, an industry known as heliciculture. The snails are collected after the rains and are put to "purge" (fasting). In the past, the consumption of snails had a marked ...
A freshwater aquatic food web. The blue arrows show a complete food chain (algae → daphnia → gizzard shad → largemouth bass → great blue heron). A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community.
Many land snails are valuable because they can feed on a wide range of agricultural wastes, such as shed leaves in banana plantations. In some countries, giant African land snails are produced commercially for food. Land snails, freshwater snails and sea snails are all eaten in many countries. In certain parts of the world snails are fried.
These snails are pelagic and live at the surface of the ocean. Adult snails may not be capable of swimming, and die when they are detached from their rafts; Janthina janthina larvae, however, actively swim in the water column. [3] The adult snails prey upon (and live near to) one of several species of pelagic animals loosely known as jellyfish.