India, July 9 -- Over half of molluscs such as chitons, clams, mussels, snails, sea slugs, tusk shells, octopus, and squid are threatened by deep-sea mining, the International Union For Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has announced.

Issuing the updated IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it said the list that serves as a baseline for species threat status now includes 175,909 species, of which 49,505 are threatened with extinction.

Highly diverse invertebrates, molluscs are a quarter of all living marine species and also have importance as food sources and culture significance.

In a statement, the IUCN said, "Sixty-two per cent of endemic hydrothermal vent molluscs (125 out of 201 species) known worldwide are at risk of extinction due t...