The osphradium is a pigmented chemosensory epithelium patch in the mantle cavity present in six of the eight extant classes of

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...

(it is absent in the scaphopoda and

monoplacophora Monoplacophora , meaning "bearing one plate", is a polyphyletic superclass of molluscs with a cap-like shell inhabiting deep sea environments . Extant representatives were not recognized as such until 1952; previously they were known only from ...

; among

cephalopoda A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda ( Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

, only the

nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in ...

has what appears to be a set of osphradia), on or adjacent to the ctenidia (gills). The main function of this organ is disputed but it is believed to be used to test incoming water for

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

and possible food particles or, in some species, for sensing the presence of light. It is a popular idea among

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

s that the presence of an osphradium should be a molluscan

synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to hav ...

. However, an osphradium is absent in monoplacophorans and scaphopods. Moreover, the differences in enervation of these patches suggest that the osphradium (as a patch enervated from the ctenidial nerve) may be different from another organ sometimes called the posterior sensory organ (PSO) with separate enervation from the lateral nerve cords. Both types of sensory organs are found in the nautilus.

References

External links

* Hulbert G. C. E. B. & Yonge C. M. (1937). "A Possible Function of the Osphradium in the Gastropoda". ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'' 139: 840-841. . * Brown A. C. & Noble R. G. (1960). "Function of the Osphradium in ''Bullia'' (Gastropoda)". ''

'' 188: 1045-1045. . Cephalopod zootomy Gastropod anatomy {{Gastropod-stub