BIOL 1263

TUTORIAL # 3
ECHINODERMS, MOLLUSCS, ANNELIDS

1. Compare the main features of the circulatory and nervous systems of the
following classes of annelids: Polychaeta and Oligochaeta.
2. Echinoderms are important to humans in various ways. Discuss three (3)
examples of their importance to humans.
3. Torsion in gastropods created a selective disadvantage: fouling. Describe
how gastropods have evolved to avoid fouling.
4. How is the respiratory system in aquatic molluscs characterized? What
adaptive respiratory structure do terrestrial molluscs present?
Answers
1. The Class Polychaeta, meaning "many bristles" includes those species that
possess tufts of chitinous setae on every segment of the body. All
characteristics of the phylum are present. There is a well-developed head
with sensory structures, such as tentacles, palps and eyes.
Circulation. -- The dorsal blood vessel is contractile having peristaltic
contractions. It pumps the blood anteriorly. Paired branches lead to each
segment, and the blood moves forward.
The ventral blood vessel collects blood from the segments and carries it
posteriorly. It is usually not contractile. Commissures connect the two
vessels at the anterior and posterior ends. The blood is found in
capillaries or vessels, but there are no sinuses. The blood is dissolved in
the plasma or haemoglobin.
The nervous system consists of a dorsal brain, a ventral, double and solid
nerve cord and a ganglion in every segment.

 a dorsal brain or cerebral ganglia, a ventral nerve cord, ganglia in each

segment and circumpharyngeal connectives.