User:Pelagic/Incubator/Outline of commercial molluscs

Molluscs comprise the second-largest group of invertebrate animals. They contain a number of species that are used by humans, across the main sub-groups: bivalves (oysters, mussels, clams), gastropods (land- and sea-snails), and cephalopods (squid, octopus).

Molluscs used as food

• Bivalves
  • Oysters Several species in different genera are harvested or cultivated in different parts of the world.
    • European oysters
    • Pacific or Japanese oyster. Native to the Pacific coasts of north Asia, it has been intentionally or accidentally introduced to North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
    • Eastern oyster, also called the American or Atlantic oyster, is found on the Atlantic coast of North America.
    • Olympia oyster from the northern Pacific coast of North America.
    • Rock oysters anchor on rocks in the intertidal to subtidal zones. The Sydney, New Zealand, or Auckland rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) is found on the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, and is farmed commercially in Australia where it is sold as Sydney rock oyster. The hooded oyster (S. cucullata) is native to the Indo-Pacific and has also observed in the eastern Mediterranean. It is exploited commercially in the north-west Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
    • South and East Asia. In the 1980s, small quantities of several species were being cultivated commercially: Crassostrea madrasensis, C. gryphoides (India); C. rivularis (Guangdong (China), and India ); C. plicatula (Fujian and Zhejiang, China); C. iredalei, C. malabonensis (Philippines); "Saccostrea commercialis", C. lugubris and C. belcheri (Thailand).

• Cephalopods
• Gastropods, land snails and sea-snails
  • Aquatic
  • Terrestrial
• Others

See also

Other groups of animals widely consumed as seafood include:

• Fish
• Crustaceans – crabs, lobsters, prawns

Less common groups include: sea urchins (Echinoderms), jellyfish