The oesophageal pouches (also known as sugar glands)[1] are a pair of pouches connected to the oesophagus of all molluscs, and represent a synapomorphy of the phylum.[2]
Usually forming a pair of lateral structures, oesophageal pouches take various forms, but usually account for a fair portion of the anterior volume of the creeping molluscs and scaphopods.[3][4][5][6][7] There is a single pouch ventral to the rear of the radula in some nudibranch sea slugs.[6] The pouches are lined with ciliated secretory cells.[8]
The pouches contain digestive enzymes that break down starch and other polysaccharides,[1] and also extrude mucus.[6]
The features are considered ancestral to molluscs[2] and are present in monoplacophorans,[9] but have been secondarily lost in the Heterobranchia.[10] However, it is not certain that all oesophageal diverticulae are homologous.[11][12]
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)