Molluscs

The story of how animals first set foot out of the water and onto land just became more complex.

Detachable, autonomous penis arms – need we say more?

The iconic marine molluscs might be alive today had Earth not been struck by a meteorite.

As soon as you scratch the surface, the weirder and weirder bivalves get. 

‘I love snails and slugs! I just think they’re fascinating,’ says Jon Ablett, our Curator of Molluscs. 

Bivalves have been touted as a food of the future – but wild populations might not last that long.

The pattern of diversity in the deep sea is more complex than first thought.

The bivalves appear to have been left behind in history’s biggest ever burst of evolution.

Meet the creatures that really are part of your world.

Named after its prominent ear-like fins, there's much more to this fascinating octopus than its adorable appearance.

Explore our collections and discover some of the many specimens you won't see on a regular visit to the Museum. 

A new study reveals that there are many ways these animals bore through solid rock, but a lack of habitat may lock them into an evolutionary dead end.

Museum scientists joined a six-week voyage to understand more about the fragile environments surrounding South Atlantic islands.

Native mussels in the River Thames are in decline, with some species having disappeared since a landmark study in 1964.

Algae and bacteria were on the menu for the early animal Kimberella shortly before it was buried over 500 million years ago. 

Think you know shells? The ones you see at the beach are just the tip of the iceberg. 

The fossil uncovered in Montana suggests the ancestor of all squid and octopus had 10 arms, with some of these then lost by its descendants. 

Scientists have only just begun to reveal what the lives of giant and colossal squid are like in the past two decades.

New 3D scans of soft tissue show how ammonites functioned.

Blue-ringed octopuses are stunning animals. But their flashy rings are not an idle threat. 

The often tightly wound shells of ammonites may be a familiar sight, but how much do you know about the animals that once lived inside?

These snails are losing their eyes. CT scanning is uncovering why.

Want to explore the life lurking in seashore rock pools? Find out what you need and what you might see.

Want to find out what small creatures are crawling around your garden? Follow our steps to set up a simple pitfall trap.

Weeping trees, teeth stronger than Kevlar and one of Earth's most spectacular natural events are all shaped by the Moon.

Much of the ocean remains unexplored, but scientists at the Museum are helping unravel the mysteries of the world beneath the waves.

Discover the important contributions made by one of London's first woman geologists.

George's death is a reminder that snail populations are crashing all over the world.

They include new dinosaurs, an ancient wombat and a giant shark.

They have blue blood, three hearts and a doughnut-shaped brain. But these aren’t even the most unusual discoveries made about octopuses!

Scientists have developed new adhesives inspired by some very sticky slugs.

Go on a virtual fossil hunt along Charmouth Beach.

Meet some of the animals whose search for a mate may actually be physically painful.

Meet the brightly coloured sea slugs committing serial stinging-cell crimes.

Scientists saved scientifically important slabs from an ammonite fossil bed after they were damaged by storms.

By improving our knowledge of what is living in the area, it will be easier to monitor the effects of future mining.

Watch Andreia Salvador, Curator of Marine Mollusca, take a look at one of the Museum's most extraordinary and precious pearls.

A study of aquatic snails that carry the parasitic disease schistosomiasis has identified infection hotspots around part of Africa's Lake Victoria that could be targeted to reduce infection.

Museum scientists have helped decode the genome for a snail that transmits the world's second-most deadly parasitic disease. The information could inspire new methods of disease control.

Museum-led research uncovers the pigments that give the sea snails Clanculus pharaonius and C. margaritarius their striking pink and yellow-brown shells.

The Museum's giant squid specimen so inspired one visiting artist that she felt compelled to draw it. Life size. 

Curator Jon Ablett tells the tale of how an elusive monster from the deep came to be one of our popular attractions.

Micro-CT scans of wood have revealed clues about the lives of a strange deep-sea wood-eating creature, nicknamed a shipworm.