ctenobranchiata

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In Van der Hoeven's classification, the tenth family of mollusks, characterized by spiral shells, and by having the branchial cavity (in which there are sometimes three branchiæ, sometimes two, and sometimes only one) composed of numerous leaves like the teeth of a comb, and contained in the last turn of the shell. They have two tentacles and two eyes, the latter often pediculate. The sexes are separate, and the external organs of generation are distinct. There are both freshand salt-water species. The whelk is the best-known member of the family. The Ctenobranchiata are now regarded as a suborder of prosobranehiate gastropods, containing upward of 20 families. Also called Pectinibranchiata (which see).