Radula

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Transverse view of the buccal cavity with the radula

Radula types chart. Red=central tooth (rachis), Green=lateral teeth, Yellow=marginal teeth.

The radula is the toothed chitinous ribbon in the mouth of most mollusks, that can be compared with the tongue of human beings. Unlike our tongue it is used for cutting and chewing food before it enters the esophagus. It is present in all molluscs except bivalves, and only in molluscs. For example, Gastropods use it to graze and scrape diatoms and other microscopic algae off rock surfaces and other substrata. Squid use it for cutting prey.

[change] Other websites

• Molluscan buccal structures and radula
• A Comparison of the feeding behaviour and the functional morphology of radula structure in Nudibranchs
• Hickman Carole, S (1980). "Gastropod Radulae and the Assessment of Form in Evolutionary Paleontology". Paleobiology 6 (3): 276-294.

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