GLOSSARY REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Glossary

Beak The oldest part of a bivalve shell.

Benthic Living on the sea floor.

Bioluminescence The phenomenon where living organisms produce light. Some complex organisms produce light themselves, while others host bioluminescent bacteria to produce light.

Bivalve Member of a mollusc class (Bivalvia) that includes clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, cockles, and others. Bivalves generally have two shells (bi = two, valve = shell).

Bryozoan A phylum that includes many encrusting or coral-like habitat-forming species. Also called lace-corals.

Byssal thread A hair-like structure created by some bivalves to attach to the substrate.

Cephalopod Member of the mollusc class Cephalopoda, which includes squid, octopus, nautilus, cuttlefish, and others.

Chemosymbiotic Chemosymbiotic species host chemosynthetic bacteria (bacteria that can metabolise hydrogen sulphide, methane or carbon dioxide), from which they partially or fully derive their nutrition.

Chiton Chiton species have eight wing-shaped shells enclosed within a leathery girdle. They form the mollusc class Polyplacophora.

Class A taxonomic rank used to classify species with a shared evolutionary history.

Columella The central structural core of the spiral part of a gastropod shell.

Cord A raised, rounded ridge or rib on a shell.

Denticle A raised hump or rib in the aperture of a gastropod.

Endemic A species that is endemic to a region is found nowhere else.

Epifauna Species that live above the sediments (antonym: infauna).

Filter-feeder Species that feed by filtering food particles and/or plankton out of the water.

Gastropod Member of the mollusc class Gastropoda, which includes slugs, snails, limpets, nudibranchs, conches, whelks, and others.

Girdle The leathery or scaly area of a chiton. 128