The phylum Mollusca includes among its about 100,000 living forms several important seafoods: clams, cockles, mussels, oysters and scallops (Bivalvia or Pelecypoda), snails, conchs and abalone (Gastropoda), and squid, cuttlefish and octopus (Cephalopoda). The phylum is very diverse and widely distributed in salt water, fresh water and on land. More than half of the world’s mollusk catch is bivalves, primarily resulting from farming of oysters, clams and mussels. Cephalopods, mainly squid, follow as second in importance.

 

Many of these common seafoods have been reported to be involved in allergic disease. Some of them may show crossreactivity (1).