Question

In olden days, mollusc was used as a currency.
A. Cypraea
B. Octopus
C. Pila
D. Turbinella

Answer 1

Hint:-: In the animal kingdom various phyla are included consisting of primitive to modern animals of their respective phylum. Among all the phyla, the phylum Arthropoda is considered as the largest phylum and Mollusca is considered as the second-largest phylum of the whole animal kingdom. Mollusks are soft-bodied and shelled animals.

Complete step-by-step solution:-
Mollusks are aquatic (marine or freshwater) or terrestrial animals. The body of mollusks is unsegmented with a variety of shapes and is covered with a calcareous shell. Their body is divided into three parts namely- head, dorsal visceral mass or hump, and the ventral muscular foot. A soft and spongy layer of skin forms a mantle or pallium over the visceral hump. The space between hump and mantle is called the mantle cavity. The mantle usually secretes an external calcareous shell. Shell is made up of calcium carbonate and proteins.
Molluscs like Octopus do not have any shell over their body and they have some other special characters like ink glands for defense mechanisms. Pila is also called an apple snail. It is having a spirally coiled shell due to the process called torsion. Turbinella is also included in the same class in which Pila is included. It is also a snail commonly called 'shank'. Cypraea is the mollusk that is also included among the snails. It is having historical human uses like they were used in decorations and also they were used as chinese currency in past times. Thus the correct answer is option A.

Note:- Molluscs are also used in some commercial activities like the production of precious pearls, hard coverings are made from their shells, and many more. A mollusk called Cypraea was used as currency in Africa in ancient times but with time they lost their worth as this mollusk is found very commonly in other countries so their importance as a currency in trade business became worthless.