The Eastern Oyster: A Not-So-Typical Mollusc

Lab dissection of a representative of Class Bivalvia. Supported by several Shape of Life segments, students interpret bivalve adaptations as a radical case of divergent evolution: A simple ancestral snail with a mobile lifestyle, single dome-shaped shell, bilateral symmetry, and a head (“cephalization”) transformed into a headless, double-shelled, sedentary filter-feeder whose bilateral form is obscure.

Lesson Plan Files
Related Handout Materials
The Eastern Oyster: A Not-So-Typical Mollusc - High School and Middle School Editions
New Standards
Cross Cutting Concepts: Patterns
Cross Cutting Concepts: Structure and Function
MS-LS1.A Structure and Function
MS-LS1.B
MS-LS1.D
MS-LS2.B
MS-LS2.C
MS-LS3.A and B: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
MS-LS4.A Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity
MS-LS4.C Adaptation
Nature of Science: Science is a Human Endeavor
Nature of Science: Science, Models, Laws, Mechanisms, and Theories Explain Natural Phenomena
Nature of Science: Scientific Investigations use a variety of methods
Nature of Science: Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems
Nature of Science: Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence
Nature of Science: Scientific knowledge is open to revision in light of new evidence.

Videos to use with this lesson

Molluscs: Pycnopodia Chases Abalone
Flatworms: An Invasive Flatworm Hunts Earthworms
Cnidarians: Anemone Catches Goby
Sponges: Filter Feeding Made Visible
Mollusc Animation: Abalone
Flatworm Animation: Body Plan