DISSECTION: CLAMS

Pictures found in: Clams

Digestive System: Water is drawn into siphons formed by the fusion of the edge of the mantle which leads to its mouth then to its digestive glands and then to its intestines.

Circulatory System: Water is siphoned into its mantle which passes over its gills, where oxygen is then diffused into the blood and pumped through its body via impulses of the heart. CO2 is then diffused out as O2 takes its place within the gills.

Nervous System: A clam has no formal nervous system, but it senses its environment with the use of its ganglia that is located above the mouth and foot, cells along the edge of its mantle react to both light and touch.

Reproductive System: Each clam has a gonad - with each being either a male or female. They reproduces sexually through means of broadcast spawning where both egg cells and sperm cells are released into the water, where they get fertilized.

Integumentary System: Enclosed in a CaCO3 shell that is adapted to protect its soft body from predators. Its foot is used for locomotion.

Body Plan: Its soft interior is protected by a hard shell composed of CaCO3. It's body is covered by a mantle: a thin layer of tissue that secretes the shell. It is unsegmented and bilaterally symmetrical and has a ventral muscular foot that is used for locomotion.

Different species of clams live in different environments - ranging from fresh to saltwater. Clams are simple organisms. Clams are molluscs because they are soft bodied animals with an internal or external shell. The name of the phylum is derived from Latin word molluscus meaning soft.