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Radula

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radula [′raj·ə·lə]
(invertebrate zoology)
A filelike ribbon studded with horny or chitinous toothlike structures, found in the mouth of all classes of mollusks except Bivalvia.

Radula 

an apparatus in mollusks, except bivalves, that rasps off and tears up food. The radula consists of a chitinous basal ribbon that lies on the surface of the tongue, the muscular out growth of the ventral wall of the pharynx. It is covered with cross rows of numerous, up to 75,000, chitinous teeth, the number, shape, and position of which serve as taxonomic criteria. The radula works like a dredge equipped with scoops. Its main function is to allow the mollusk to rasp off the food, which is then swallowed.



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I did my Biology at University College,--getting out the ovary of the earthworm and the radula of the snail, and all that.
 
 
 
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