Literature Review: Cephalopoda

The class cephalopoda is part of the phylum Mollusca. Cephalopoda include octopus and squid. The
cephalopoda are sometimes known by a common name of inkfish due to their shared ability to squirt
ink. There are over 800 species of cephalopoda, they are found in every ocean of Earth. They can be
found from within the extremely deep oceans to the shallow waters.
The cephalopoda have evolved over many years from the gastropoda. The morphology of a cephalopoda
is their bilateral body symmetry and a set of tentacles. The tentacles have evolved from the molluscan
foot usually found within the mollusk shells of bivalvia and gastropda. The tentacles are important for
grabbing onto things, usually pray. Cephalopoda also possess a prominent head, which they use to suck in
water and propel it out as a means of travel.
The order Teuthida (squid) of the class cephalopoda is popular seafood. Tons of Teuthida are caught
yearly from commercial fishing as a means of seafood to be distributed and sold. A wide range of species
of Teuthida are caught including the family Loliginidae and Ommastrephidae. Due to the sheer amount of
Teuthida caught on an annual basis, it is safe to say the biggest pressures facing the survivability of the
cephalopoda are overfishing. Overfishing will dramatically decrease the amount of cephalopoda in the
ocean and cause an upset in the food chain as cephalopoda are important prey for many predators in the
marine environment.
Overall the cephalopoda are an incredibly evolved class, they have dramatically evolved from most of the
Mollusca in order to survive in their environments. Cephalopoda are an important food source for both
humans and marine life. The preservation of the cephalopoda is important. This can be done with
controlling the amount of cephalopoda that are caught annually.