The Department of Life Sciences

Phylum: Mollusca  Classes: Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda   

Molluscs are a very diverse group of animals with a wide range of lifestyles and body shapes. From fast moving intelligent predators like the squid to sessile, filter feeders like mussels and slow moving grazers like chitons they have evolved to fill many ecological niches. 

For more information on molluscs in general click here

Trinidad & Tobago Molluscs

The diversity of molluscs in Trinidad is greatest in the sea; the land and freshwater molluscs are found in much lower numbers. In Trinidad some species are important as a food source including the queen conch, black conch, mangrove oyster and introduced green mussel.

For more information about the terrestrial and freshwater molluscs of Trinidad and Tobago click here

For profiles of selected species click here

UWIZM Collections

There are over 5000 dried shells in the collection.  The majority of these are marine species from around Trinidad and Tobago, they were collected by many people over the years including Sybil Atteck, P. Thompson and H. Kugler. The land snails are now well represented due to recent collecting by Mike G. Rutherford. The collection of molluscs in spirit is not as extensive as the dried shell collection but contains around 100 jars including the soft bodied squid, octopus and slugs.

Highlights

Land snail (Plekocheilus glaber) shells from a motmot anvil

Gastropd shells from the Sybil Atteck Collection

Queen Conch (Lobatus gigas) from the National Museum collection

Giant deep sea mussels (Bathymodiolus boomerang) collected from Kick em Jenny underwater volcano

Last updated 11 June 2018