Bret,
  Try this for a description of a mollusk.  This is from a web site i am
helping to creat.

<Mollusks (Phylum Mollusca) are a group of animals that are more similar
to each other based on anatomical, developmental and evolutionary characters
than they are to other animals. Several of the general characteristics
that characterize the Mollusks are:
 <protostomal development>
 <a trochophore larva>
 <a radula>
 <a muscular foot>
 <a mantle that secretes a calcium carbonate based shell or spicules>
 <schizocoel coelomic cavities>
 <a heart with an associated hemocoele circulation>
 <ctenidia>
 a larval or adult body plan with traces of eight segments
 a circumpharyngeal nerve ring with a ladder-like arrangement of nerves
Mollusks will share some or all of these characteristics. >

Regards,
Charlie
******************************************************************************
Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History
                     Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

[log in to unmask]