How does respiration work in bivalves?
While the gills are thought to serve a respiratory function, respiratory demands are low in these mostly inactive animals, and, since the body and mantle are both bathed in water, respiration probably takes place across these surfaces as well.
Table of Contents
How are bivalves fossilized?

Fossil bivalves were formed when the sediment in which they were buried hardened into rock.
What respiratory structures do bivalves have?
Like fish, bivalve mollusks breathe through their gills. As filter feeders, bivalves gather food through their gills. Some bivalves have a pointed, retractable “foot” that protrudes from the shell and digs into the surrounding sediment, effectively enabling the creature to move or burrow.
What structure is used for respiration and food collection in bivalves?
In most bivalves, the gills are involved with both respiration and ciliary suspension feeding (filtering small particles out of the water which are then transferred to the mouth by a pair of labial palps).

What are clams respiratory system?
The clam has a pair of very large gills, and the surface of the gills is covered with cilia. The cilia beat in a coordinated fashion, and the movement of the cilia cause water to move into and through the clam. Food-containing water enters through the incurrent siphon and passes over the gills.
How are bivalve fossils preserved?
Many bivalve fossils, however, are casts and molds of the internal surface of the shells, so they preserve the shape of the inside surface of the shell, which is usually smooth and lacks growth lines and ornamentation.
What type of fossil is a bivalve?
Fossils of the Paleozoic: Phylum Mollusca (The Bivalves & Gastropods)
How does a bivalve breathe quizlet?
Bivalves are adapted to breathe underwater by using gill membranes. In function, gills are like your lungs. They are membranes that take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Water brought in through the incurrent siphon flows to the gills.
How does a bivalve take in oxygen and food?
Oxygen that is dissolved in the water flows over the gills’ surface and diffuses through the gill membranes. Carbon dioxide diffuses from the gills back into the water. Thus, gas exchange at the gill surface is how a bivalve breathes.
What type of respiratory system does a clam have?
The water passing over the gills exchanges gases with the HEMOLYMPH (blood in an organism with open circulation) inside the clam and small food particles in the water are trapped in the mucous on the gills.
How do bivalves get o2?
They extract, or “breathe,” oxygen from the water with gills, which have large surface areas and very thin epithelia (“skins”).
How does a fossil get preserved?
Freezing, drying and encasement, such as in tar or resin, can create whole-body fossils that preserve bodily tissues. These fossils represent the organisms as they were when living, but these types of fossils are very rare. Most organisms become fossils when they’re changed through various other means.
Where are bivalve fossils found?
They can be found at Scunthorpe, Yorkshire, and two Gryphaea bivalves can be found on Scunthorpe’s shield (left). Like modern sea shells, bivalves can be many shapes. You don’t just collect modern shells on a beach! This is the imprint of a fossil cockle (Cardiiae) on flint, about 80 million years old.
How does respiration differ for aquatic and terrestrial mollusks?
Terrestrial mollusks exchange gases with the surrounding air. This occurs across the lining of the mantle cavity. Aquatic mollusks “breathe” under water with gills. Gills are thin filaments that absorb gases and exchange them between the blood and surrounding water.
What type of respiratory organ do clams have?
gills
The clam has a pair of very large gills, and the surface of the gills is covered with cilia. The cilia beat in a coordinated fashion, and the movement of the cilia cause water to move into and through the clam. Food-containing water enters through the incurrent siphon and passes over the gills.
How do clams respire?
Clams typically draw in and expel water for respiration and feeding through two tubes, the siphons, or “neck.” The water is impelled by the beating of millions of cilia (hairlike structures) on the gills; other gill cilia strain food from the incurrent water and transport it, entangled in mucus, to the mouth.
What are three types of fossilization processes that preserve body fossils?
Taphonomy is the branch of paleontology that focuses on the fossilization process. Fossils are preserved by three main methods: unaltered soft or hard parts, altered hard parts, and trace fossils.