Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
taxon
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
which includes such animals as
decapods,
seed shrimp
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typical ...
,
branchiopods,
fish lice,
krill,
remipede
Remipedia is a class of blind crustaceans found in coastal aquifers which contain saline groundwater, with populations identified in almost every ocean basin so far explored, including in Australia, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. The ...
s,
isopod
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
s,
barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
s,
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s,
amphipods and
mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in lengt ...
. The crustacean group can be treated as a
subphylum under the
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
Mandibulata. It is now well accepted that the
hexapods emerged deep in the Crustacean group, with the completed group referred to as
Pancrustacea
Pancrustacea is the clade that comprises all crustaceans and hexapods. This grouping is contrary to the Atelocerata hypothesis, in which Myriapoda and Hexapoda are sister taxa, and Crustacea are only more distantly related. As of 2010, the Pan ...
.
Some crustaceans (
Remipedia,
Cephalocarida
The Cephalocarida are a class in the subphylum Crustacea comprising only 12 benthic species. They were discovered in 1955 by Howard L. Sanders, and are commonly referred to as horseshoe shrimp. They have been grouped together with the Remiped ...
,
Branchiopoda) are more closely related to
insects and the other hexapods than they are to certain other crustaceans.
The 67,000 described species range in size from ''
Stygotantulus stocki'' at , to the
Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to and a mass of . Like other
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s, crustaceans have an
exoskeleton
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...
, which they
moult to grow. They are distinguished from other groups of arthropods, such as
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s,
myriapods and
chelicerates
The subphylum Chelicerata (from New Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. It contains the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, ticks, and mit ...
, by the possession of
biramous (two-parted) limbs, and by their
larval forms, such as the
nauplius stage of
branchiopods and
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s.
Most crustaceans are free-living
aquatic animal
An aquatic animal is any animal, whether invertebrate or vertebrate, that lives in water for most or all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies have aquatic larvae, with winged adults. Aquatic anim ...
s, but some are
terrestrial (e.g.
woodlice
A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is an isopod crustacean from the polyphyleticThe current consensus is that Oniscidea is actually triphyletic suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood. ...
,
sandhopper
Talitridae is a family of amphipods. Terrestrial species are often referred to as landhoppers and beach dwellers are called sandhoppers or sand fleas. The name sand flea is misleading, though, because these talitrid amphipods are not siphonapter ...
s), some are
parasitic (e.g.
Rhizocephala,
fish lice,
tongue worms
The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus ''Linguatula'' to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being degenerate crustaceans ...
) and some are
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
(e.g.
barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
s). The group has an extensive
fossil record, reaching back to the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
. More than 7.9 million tons of crustaceans per year are harvested by fishery or farming for human consumption, consisting mostly of
shrimp and prawn
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are referre ...
s.
Krill and
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s are not as widely fished, but may be the animals with the greatest
biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
on the planet, and form a vital part of the food chain. The scientific study of crustaceans is known as
carcinology (alternatively, ''malacostracology'', ''crustaceology'' or ''crustalogy''), and a scientist who works in carcinology is a
carcinologist
A carcinologist is a scientist who studies crustaceans or is otherwise involved in carcinology
Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans, a group of arthropods that includes lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, ...
.
Structure
![Crab from Long Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Crab_from_Long_Island.jpg)
The body of a crustacean is composed of segments, which are grouped into three regions: the ''cephalon'' or
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
,
the ''pereon'' or
thorax
The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...
,
and the ''pleon'' or
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
.
The head and thorax may be fused together to form a
cephalothorax
The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...
, which may be covered by a single large
carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
. The crustacean body is protected by the hard
exoskeleton
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...
, which must be
moulted
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
for the animal to grow. The shell around each somite can be divided into a dorsal
tergum
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Ante ...
, ventral
sternum and a lateral pleuron. Various parts of the exoskeleton may be fused together.
Each
somite, or body segment can bear a pair of
appendage
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s: on the segments of the head, these include two pairs of
antennae, the
mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
s and
maxilla
The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...
e;
the thoracic segments bear
legs
A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element ...
, which may be specialised as
pereiopod
The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various g ...
s (walking legs) and
maxilliped
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s (feeding legs).
The abdomen bears
pleopod
The decapod ( crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various ...
s,
and ends in a
telson
The telson () is the posterior-most division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segment on accou ...
, which bears the
anus
The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...
, and is often flanked by uropods to form a
tail fan.
The number and variety of
appendage
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s in different crustaceans may be partly responsible for the group's success.
Crustacean
appendage
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s are typically
biramous, meaning they are divided into two parts; this includes the second pair of antennae, but not the first, which is usually
uniramous, the exception being in the Class Malacostraca where the antennules may be generally biramous or even triramous.
It is unclear whether the biramous condition is a derived state which evolved in crustaceans, or whether the second branch of the limb has been lost in all other groups.
Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...
s, for instance, also possessed biramous appendages.
The main body cavity is an
open circulatory system
The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
, where blood is pumped into the
haemocoel
The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
by a
heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
located near the dorsum. Malacostraca have
haemocyanin
Hemocyanins (also spelled haemocyanins and abbreviated Hc) are proteins that transport oxygen throughout the bodies of some invertebrate animals. These metalloproteins contain two copper atoms that reversibly bind a single oxygen molecule (O2) ...
as the oxygen-carrying pigment, while copepods, ostracods, barnacles and branchiopods have
haemoglobins. The alimentary canal consists of a straight tube that often has a gizzard-like "gastric mill" for grinding food and a pair of digestive glands that absorb food; this structure goes in a spiral format. Structures that function as kidneys are located near the antennae. A brain exists in the form of ganglia close to the antennae, and a collection of major ganglia is found below the gut.
In many
decapods, the first (and sometimes the second) pair of pleopods are specialised in the male for sperm transfer. Many terrestrial crustaceans (such as the
Christmas Island red crab) mate seasonally and return to the sea to release the eggs. Others, such as
woodlice
A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is an isopod crustacean from the polyphyleticThe current consensus is that Oniscidea is actually triphyletic suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood. ...
, lay their eggs on land, albeit in damp conditions. In most decapods, the females retain the eggs until they hatch into free-swimming larvae.
Ecology
![Abludomelita obtusata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Abludomelita_obtusata.jpg)
Most crustaceans are aquatic, living in either marine or
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
environments, but a few groups have
adapted
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
to life on land, such as
terrestrial crabs,
terrestrial hermit crabs, and
woodlice
A woodlouse (plural woodlice) is an isopod crustacean from the polyphyleticThe current consensus is that Oniscidea is actually triphyletic suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood. ...
. Marine crustaceans are as ubiquitous in the oceans as insects are on land. Most crustaceans are also
motile, moving about independently, although a few taxonomic units are
parasitic and live attached to their hosts (including
sea lice
Sea lice (singular: sea louse) are copepods (small crustaceans) of the family Caligidae within the order Siphonostomatoida. They are marine ectoparasites (external parasites) that feed on the mucus, epidermal tissue, and blood of host fish. Th ...
,
fish lice,
whale lice
A whale louse is a commensal crustacean of the family Cyamidae. Despite the name, it is not a true louse (which are insects), but rather is related to the skeleton shrimp, most species of which are found in shallower waters. Whale lice are extern ...
,
tongue worms
The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus ''Linguatula'' to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being degenerate crustaceans ...
, and ''
Cymothoa exigua
''Cymothoa exigua'', or the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod of the family Cymothoidae. It enters fish through the gills. The female attaches to the tongue, while the male attaches to the gill arches beneath and behind the female. Fe ...
'', all of which may be referred to as "crustacean lice"), and adult barnacles live a
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
life – they are attached headfirst to the substrate and cannot move independently. Some branchiurans are able to withstand rapid changes of
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
and will also switch hosts from marine to non-marine species.
Krill are the bottom layer and the most important part of the food chain in
Antarctic
The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
animal communities. Some crustaceans are significant
invasive species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
, such as the Chinese mitten crab, ''
Eriocheir sinensis
The Chinese mitten crab ('; , "big sluice crab"), also known as the Shanghai hairy crab (, p ''Shànghǎi máoxiè''), is a medium-sized burrowing crab that is named for its furry claws, which resemble mittens. It is native to rive ...
'', and the Asian shore crab, ''
Hemigrapsus sanguineus
''Hemigrapsus sanguineus'', the Japanese shore crab or Asian shore crab, is a species of crab from East Asia. It has been introduced to several other regions, and is now an invasive species in North America and Europe. It was introduced to thes ...
''. Since the piercing of the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
, close to 100 species of crustaceans from the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific realm have established themselves in the eastern Mediterranean sub-basin, with often significant impact on local ecosystems.
Life cycle
Mating system
Most crustaceans have
separate sexes, and
reproduce sexually
Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote tha ...
. In fact, a recent study explains how the male crustaceans,T. Californicus decide which females to mate with by dietary differences, preferring when the females are algae-fed instead of yeast-fed.
A small number are
hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...
s, including
barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
s,
remipede
Remipedia is a class of blind crustaceans found in coastal aquifers which contain saline groundwater, with populations identified in almost every ocean basin so far explored, including in Australia, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. The ...
s, and
Cephalocarida
The Cephalocarida are a class in the subphylum Crustacea comprising only 12 benthic species. They were discovered in 1955 by Howard L. Sanders, and are commonly referred to as horseshoe shrimp. They have been grouped together with the Remiped ...
.
Some may even change sex during the course of their life.
Parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...
is also widespread among crustaceans, where viable eggs are produced by a female without needing fertilisation by a male.
This occurs in many
branchiopods, some
ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
s, some
isopod
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
s, and certain "higher" crustaceans, such as the ''
Marmorkrebs
The marbled crayfish or (''Procambarus virginalis'') is a parthenogenetic crayfish that was discovered in the pet trade in Germany in 1995. Marbled crayfish are closely related to the "slough crayfish", '' Procambarus fallax'', which is widely d ...
'' crayfish.
Eggs
In many crustaceans, the fertilised eggs are released into the
water column
A water column is a conceptual column of water from the surface of a sea, river or lake to the bottom sediment.Munson, B.H., Axler, R., Hagley C., Host G., Merrick G., Richards C. (2004).Glossary. ''Water on the Web''. University of Minnesota-D ...
, while others have developed a number of mechanisms for holding on to the eggs until they are ready to hatch. Most
decapods carry the eggs attached to the
pleopod
The decapod ( crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various ...
s, while
peracarids,
notostracans,
anostraca
Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered m ...
ns, and many
isopod
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
s form a
brood pouch from the
carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
and thoracic limbs.
Female Branchiura do not carry eggs in external ovisacs but attach them in rows to rocks and other objects.
Most
leptostracans and
krill carry the eggs between their thoracic limbs; some
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s carry their eggs in special thin-walled sacs, while others have them attached together in long, tangled strings.
Larvae
Crustaceans exhibit a number of larval forms, of which the earliest and most characteristic is the
nauplius. This has three pairs of
appendage
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s, all emerging from the young animal's head, and a single naupliar eye. In most groups, there are further larval stages, including the
zoea (pl. zoeæ or zoeas). This name was given to it when naturalists believed it to be a separate species. It follows the
nauplius stage and precedes the
post-larva
Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow. The ...
. Zoea larvae swim with their thoracic
appendage
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s, as opposed to nauplii, which use cephalic appendages, and megalopa, which use abdominal appendages for swimming. It often has spikes on its
carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
, which may assist these small organisms in maintaining directional swimming. In many
decapods, due to their accelerated development, the zoea is the first larval stage. In some cases, the zoea stage is followed by the mysis stage, and in others, by the megalopa stage, depending on the crustacean group involved.
DNA repair
In an effort to understand whether
DNA repair
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA dam ...
processes can protect crustaceans against
DNA damage
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...
, basic research was conducted to elucidate the repair mechanisms used by ''
Penaeus monodon
''Penaeus monodon'', commonly known as the giant tiger prawn, Asian tiger shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and other names, is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food.
Taxonomy
''Penaeus monodon'' was alpha taxonomy, first described by J ...
'' (black tiger shrimp). Repair of DNA double-strand breaks was found to be predominantly carried out by accurate
homologous recombination
Homologous recombination is a type of genetic recombination in which genetic information is exchanged between two similar or identical molecules of double-stranded or single-stranded nucleic acids (usually DNA as in cellular organisms but may ...
al repair. Another, less accurate process,
microhomology-mediated end joining, is also used to repair such breaks. The expression pattern of DNA repair related and DNA damage response genes in the intertidal copepod ''Tigriopus japonicus'' was analyzed after ultraviolet irradiation. This study revealed increased expression of proteins associated with the DNA repair processes of
non-homologous end joining
Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a pathway that repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. NHEJ is referred to as "non-homologous" because the break ends are directly ligated without the need for a homologous template, in contrast to homology direct ...
,
homologous recombination
Homologous recombination is a type of genetic recombination in which genetic information is exchanged between two similar or identical molecules of double-stranded or single-stranded nucleic acids (usually DNA as in cellular organisms but may ...
,
base excision repair
Base excision repair (BER) is a cellular mechanism, studied in the fields of biochemistry and genetics, that repairs damaged DNA throughout the cell cycle. It is responsible primarily for removing small, non-helix-distorting base lesions from t ...
and
DNA mismatch repair.
Classification and phylogeny
The name "crustacean" dates from the earliest works to describe the animals, including those of
Pierre Belon and
Guillaume Rondelet, but the name was not used by some later authors, including
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
, who included crustaceans among the "
Aptera" in his '.
The earliest nomenclaturally valid work to use the name "Crustacea" was
Morten Thrane Brünnich's ' in 1772, although he also included
chelicerates
The subphylum Chelicerata (from New Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. It contains the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, ticks, and mit ...
in the group.
The subphylum Crustacea comprises almost 67,000 described
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, which is thought to be just to of the total number as most species remain as yet
undiscovered
''Undiscovered'' is a 2005 American drama film directed by Meiert Avis. The plot is about a group of aspiring entertainers who intend to establish their careers in Los Angeles. Released on August 26, 2005, the film received a largely negative re ...
. Although most crustaceans are small, their morphology varies greatly and includes both the largest arthropod in the world – the
Japanese spider crab with a leg span of – and the smallest, the 100-
micrometre
The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...
-long (0.004 in) ''
Stygotantulus stocki''. Despite their diversity of form, crustaceans are united by the special
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
l form known as the
nauplius.
The exact relationships of the Crustacea to other taxa are not completely settled . Studies based on morphology led to the
Pancrustacea
Pancrustacea is the clade that comprises all crustaceans and hexapods. This grouping is contrary to the Atelocerata hypothesis, in which Myriapoda and Hexapoda are sister taxa, and Crustacea are only more distantly related. As of 2010, the Pan ...
hypothesis, in which Crustacea and
Hexapoda
The subphylum Hexapoda (from Greek for 'six legs') comprises most species of arthropods and includes the insects as well as three much smaller groups of wingless arthropods: Collembola, Protura, and Diplura (all of these were once considered inse ...
(
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s and allies) are
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
s. More recent studies using
DNA sequence
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...
s suggest that Crustacea is
paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
, with the hexapods nested within a larger Pancrustacea
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
.
Although the classification of crustaceans has been quite variable, the system used by Martin and Davis
largely supersedes earlier works.
Mystacocarida and
Branchiura
The family Argulidae, whose members are commonly known as carp lice or fish lice, are parasitic crustaceans in the class Ichthyostraca. It is the only family in the monotypic subclass Branchiura and the order Arguloida, although a second family, ...
, here treated as part of
Maxillopoda
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
, are sometimes treated as their own classes. Eleven classes are recognised:
![Haeckel Decapoda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Haeckel_Decapoda.jpg)
The following cladogram shows the updated relationships between the different extant groups of the paraphyletic Crustacea in relation to the class
Hexapoda
The subphylum Hexapoda (from Greek for 'six legs') comprises most species of arthropods and includes the insects as well as three much smaller groups of wingless arthropods: Collembola, Protura, and Diplura (all of these were once considered inse ...
.
According to this diagram, the Hexapoda are deep in the Crustacea tree, and any of the Hexapoda is distinctly closer to e.g. a Multicrustacean than an Oligostracan is.
Fossil record
![Eryma mandelslohi (Krebs) - Oberer Brauner Jura - Bissingen unter Teck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Eryma_mandelslohi_%28Krebs%29_-_Oberer_Brauner_Jura_-_Bissingen_unter_Teck.jpg)
Crustaceans have a rich and extensive
fossil record, which begins with animals such as ''
Canadaspis
''Canadaspis'' ("Shield of Canada") is an extinct genus of bivalved Cambrian arthropod, known from North America and China. They are thought to have been benthic feeders that moved mainly by walking and possibly used its biramous appendages to ...
'' and ''
Perspicaris
''Perspicaris'' (from the Latin ''perspicax'', meaning “sharp-sighted,” and ''caris'', “crab/shrimp”) an extinct genus of bivalved arthropod from the Cambrian period. Fossils have been found in North America, primarily the Burgess Shale ...
'' from the
Middle Cambrian
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek (di ...
age
Burgess Shale.
Most of the major groups of crustaceans appear in the fossil record before the end of the Cambrian, namely the
Branchiopoda,
Maxillopoda
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
(including
barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
s and
tongue worms
The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus ''Linguatula'' to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being degenerate crustaceans ...
) and
Malacostraca
Malacostraca (from New Latin; ) is the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobst ...
; there is some debate as to whether or not Cambrian animals assigned to Ostracoda are truly
ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
s, which would otherwise start in the
Ordovician. The only classes to appear later are the
Cephalocarida
The Cephalocarida are a class in the subphylum Crustacea comprising only 12 benthic species. They were discovered in 1955 by Howard L. Sanders, and are commonly referred to as horseshoe shrimp. They have been grouped together with the Remiped ...
, which have no fossil record, and the
Remipedia, which were first described from the fossil ''
Tesnusocaris goldichi'', but do not appear until the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
. Most of the early crustaceans are rare, but fossil crustaceans become abundant from the
Carboniferous period
The Carboniferous ( ) is a Period (geology), geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago (Myr, Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, ...
onwards.
![Shrimps at market in Valencia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Shrimps_at_market_in_Valencia.jpg)
Within the Malacostraca, no fossils are known for
krill, while both
Hoplocarida and
Phyllopoda
Branchiopoda is a class (biology), class of crustaceans. It comprises Anostraca, fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, Diplostraca (or Cladocera), Notostraca and the Devonian ''Lepidocaris''. They are mostly small, freshwater animals that feed on plankton ...
contain important groups that are now extinct as well as extant members (Hoplocarida:
mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in lengt ...
are extant, while
Aeschronectida are extinct; Phyllopoda:
Canadaspidida are extinct, while
Leptostraca are extant
).
Cumacea
Cumacea is an order of small marine crustaceans of the superorder Peracarida, occasionally called hooded shrimp or comma shrimp. Their unique appearance and uniform body plan makes them easy to distinguish from other crustaceans. They live in so ...
and
Isopoda
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
are both known from the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
, as are the first true mantis shrimp. In the
Decapoda
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is esti ...
,
prawns
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
and
polychelids appear in the Triassic, and
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
and
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s appear in the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
.
The fossil burrow ''Ophiomorpha'' is attributed to ghost shrimps, whereas the fossil burrow ''Camborygma'' is attributed to crayfishes. The Permian–Triassic deposits of Nurra preserve the oldest (Permian: Roadian) fluvial burrows ascribed to ghost shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidea, Gebiidea) and crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea, Parastacidea), respectively.
However, the great radiation of crustaceans occurred in the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
, particularly in crabs, and may have been driven by the
adaptive radiation
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic int ...
of their main predators,
bony fish
Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilag ...
.
The first true
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s also appear in the Cretaceous.
Consumption by humans
Many crustaceans are consumed by humans, and nearly 10,700,000
ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
s were harvested in 2007; the vast majority of this output is of
decapod crustaceans:
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s,
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s,
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
,
crawfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...
, and
prawns
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
.
Over 60% by weight of all crustaceans caught for consumption are shrimp and prawns, and nearly 80% is produced in Asia, with China alone producing nearly half the world's total.
Non-decapod crustaceans are not widely consumed, with only 118,000 tons of
krill being caught,
despite krill having one of the greatest
biomasses on the planet.
See also
*
Pain in crustaceans
Pain in crustaceans is a scientific debate which questions whether they experience pain or not. Pain is a complex mental state, with a distinct perceptual quality but also associated with suffering, which is an emotional state. Because of this ...
References
Sources
*
Powers, M., Hill, G., Weaver, R., & Goymann, W. (2020). An experimental test of mate choice for red carotenoid coloration in the marine copepod Tigriopus californicus. Ethology., 126(3), 344–352
An experimental test of mate choice for red carotenoid coloration in the marine copepod Tigriopus californicus
External links
*
Crustacea.net, an online resource on the biology of crustaceansCrustacea Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyCrustacea Tree of Life Web ProjectThe Crustacean SocietyNatural History Collections: Crustacea University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
Crustaceans (Crustacea) on the shore of SingaporeCrustacea(crabs, lobsters, shrimps, prawns, barnacles): Biodiversity Explorer
{{Good article
Cambrian Series 2 first appearances
Extant Cambrian first appearances
Paraphyletic groups
Pancrustacea