CRUSTACEANS
- Khushboo Dalmia 7B
What are crustaceans?
◦ There are roughly 40,000 species of crustaceans, and they are the
predominant arthropods of the ocean.
◦ Crustaceans are a very diverse group of invertebrate animals which
includes active animals such as the crabs, lobsters, shrimp, krill, copepods,
amphipods, and more sessile creatures like barnacles.
◦ Most crustaceans are aquatic, living in either marine
or freshwater environments, but a few groups have adapted to life on land,
such as terrestrial crabs, terrestrial hermit crabs, and woodlice.
Crustacean’s feeding habit
◦ Crustaceans obtain food by predation, filter feeding, scavenging, or
through parasitism.
◦ Filter feeding is a form of food procurement in which food particles or small
organisms are randomly strained from water.
◦ Many crustaceans, such as copepods and krill, are extremely important
components of the marine food chain.
◦ Krill compose a biomass of over 500 million tons, roughly twice that of
humans.
◦ Like copepods, krill are considered key stone species near the bottom of
the food chain because they feed on phytoplankton and other tiny, drifting
aquatic organisms.
◦ Other organisms higher up in the food chain, such as whales, seals,
penguins, and squid, rely on krill as a major food source and indirectly
Life Cycle of Crustaceans
The crustacean's life cycle
involves a larval stage that is
known as a zoea. When the zoea
name was given to the
crustacean, naturalists believed
that it was an entirely separate
species.
The stage of growth following the
zoea stage of growth is Megalopa
stage.
Finally there is the adult stage.
The adult lays eggs and the cycle
continues.
Fun Facts
◦ Crustaceans are arthropods. Their skeletons are on the outside of their bodies.
◦ Crabs and shrimp can swim. Lobsters just scuttle about on the bottom of the ocean. Barnacles stick
themselves to a hard surface like a rock or a boat and never move.
◦ More than 10 million tons of crustaceans are produced by fishery or farming for human consumption.
◦ The scientific study of crustaceans is known as carcinology and a scientist who works in carcinology
is a carcinologist.
◦ Crustaceans are cold-blooded invertebrates.
◦ Crustaceans do not truly feel pain.
Why don’t crabs give charitable
donations?
Because they are shellfish.
