From a crab to a barnacle, crustaceans are a diverse group of animals that inhabit much of the world. This lesson will explore what it means to be a crustacean and will also provide some example organisms.
!!!Characteristics and Anatomy of Crustaceans
Imagine a creature that has a skeleton on the outside of its body, that has eyes that protrude on stalks, and whose blood doesn't flow through blood vessels but, instead, pools and surrounds body tissues. What is this monstrous creature? What if I were to tell you this isn't a monster, but something you've probably seen and maybe even eaten?! Yep, this strange creature is a __crustacean__! There are over 50,000 species of crustacean and they come in all shapes and sizes, from an ocean-dwelling crab to an immobile barnacle! But before we delve into the types of crustaceans, let's take a moment to go over the characteristics and anatomy they share.
Crustaceans belong to the Arthropoda Phylum, which includes critters like ants, spiders, and centipedes. I know! Crazy to think that a delicious crab is in the same group as a spider! But they share similar characteristics. For starters, members of the Arthropoda Phylum do not have a backbone like you and me, so they are called __invertebrates__. And, as mentioned earlier, their skeleton is external, which is referred to as an __exoskeleton__.
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Sure, you can imagine a crab sitting on the bottom of the ocean, but if you came across a pill bug you probably wouldn't scream, 'Check out that crustacean!', but pill bugs are crustaceans that live on land! There are too many groups to mention here, so let's just highlight a few, starting with Copepods, which are extremely small crustaceans. There are over 13,000 species that are considered Copepods. Some inhabit freshwater, some live in saltwater, others live in moss and some are even parasitic. The Copepod's claim to fame is probably their importance in the food
Underwater shark nets make us feel safer at the beach,but are we? That’s the question. Are we safe? There are lots of possibilities that the shark, with sharp like knife teeth, may outsmart us. Because of shark attacks we use nets, called shark nets. However, that doesn’t mean nets used in the past prevented shark attacks. These nets don’t only trap sharks they trap other sea creatures.
Tigriopus californicus is an amazing little marine crustacean that is classified as a Harpactacoid copepod. Harpactacoid meaning it’s class, and copepod meaning its order.
Yeti Crabs are often found in depths of more than 2000 meters, and are common on and around hydrothermal vents of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Most species do not live where the yeti crab lives.
Picture this: you're having a nice weekend at the lake with your family, fishing, swimming, and having an all-around great time. But then you notice that your boat isn't running as well as it should, especially considering you just cleaned it and made sure everything was in perfect condition before leaving your house. Puzzled, you take your boat out of the water to notice that the hull and motor is covered in tiny clam-like creatures, making your pristine white boat look like something that was just drug out of the bottom of the lake. What are these animals that ruined your weekend of fun? They are zebra mussels, and are found in lakes, rivers, and other bodies of freshwater across the U.S. Normally found in Eastern Europe, the first group of this invasive species hitched a ride in the ballast tanks of ocean liners in the 1980s, and quickly spread. Regulations are in place to stop the spread, but removing them from places that have already been infested is tricky. Today we will talk about the damages zebra mussels cause, how this problem is managed, and what you can do to help.
Jason Dundas visited Port Stephens on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. It's on the edge of Great Lakes Marine Park, the state's largest and is made up of Tomaree and Tilligerry peninsulas and the Golden Bight.
The scientific name given to the blue crab was derived from Latin and Greek: Calli, beautiful; nectes, swimmer; and sapidus, savory. Thus, a literal transition might be the beautiful, savory swimmer. The blue crab is an important and interesting species. The blue crab is a species whose life history involves a complex cycle of planktonic, nektonic, and benthic stages which occur throughout the marine environment in a variety of habitats. The blue crab is one of the more abundant estuarine invertebrates and supports important commercial and recreational fisheries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans. Louisiana has more than 30 different species of crawfish, but only two species are commercially important to the industry; the red swamp crawfish (Procmbatus clarkii) and the white river crawfish (Procambarus zonangulus).
Fox, R. 2001. Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine: Artemia Franciscana. Lander University. http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/artemia.html, retrieved February 13, 2011.
You probably think horseshoe crabs are crustaceans, but you’d be wrong. They actually aren’t crabs at all, and there’s more about the horseshoe crab that you wouldn’t believe. This weird-looking marine animal survived two mass extinctions and lived in the Ordovician Period.
Phylum chordates are a taxonomic rank below kingdom that includes organisms such as mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, all vertebrates, tunicates, and cephalochordates. To be in the phylum of chordates you must at some point in your development of life have a dorsal nerve, or hollow nerve cord which is in the central nervous system that acts as a support to the locomotion system. I will discuss the different kind of organisms along with some characteristics of the organisms found in the chordates phylum, I will then break down some specific species within the phylum group and will discuss their individual characteristic such as what they eat, where they are found, how and when they reproduce, and if they are social or solitary.
Protists are members of Protista, one of the five main kingdoms of organisms. They are eukaryotic, multicellular and unicellular creatures that are either microscopic or very large in size, and are found in moist and marine environments. Being mostly micro in size, 5 micrometers to 2 to 3 millimeters is the prevalent size for protists. Despite not being categorized in any other animal kingdoms due to their complex structures and heavy diversity, they still are very much like fungi, animals and plants in their characteristics (Corliss, "General Features").
Hundreds of people, who get in the ocean every year, are almost none that encounter sharks. Even if you're lucky enough to see a shark big enough to bite you, you're much likely to die from a heart attack than getting bit by one. Shark attacks are mistakes and the idea of a shark off every beach waiting for people to come in the water is completely untrue. I will inform you on the background knowledge of sharks and the reasons why humans should not be afraid only aware.
Crustacea is a large subphylum of Arthropoda, consisting of almost 52 000 described species, including animals like crabs, lobsters, shrimp and barnacles. The majority of these are aquatic, living in marine or fresh water environments, though some have adapted to living on land like some crabs and woodlice. Most crustaceans are relatively small, though there are some exceptions. All of them have a hard, strong exoskeleton, divided into two parts, which has to be shed in order to allow the animal itself to grow. They have a large circulation system, where blood is pumped around the body by the heart. Only some crustaceans have sexes separate, and those that are usually mate seasonally and lay eggs. The study of Crustacea is called carcinology.
Insect, small, air-breathing animal characterized by a segmented body with three main parts—head, thorax, and abdomen. In their adult forms, insects typically have three pairs of legs, one pair of antennae, and in most instances, two pairs of wings. Insects rank among the most successful animals on Earth. About one million species of insects have been identified so far, which is about half of all the animals known to science. That is why for every pound of human on the earth there are 10 pounds of insects. So that is why there are many reasons why insects are so successful, their exoskeleton, their size, their body function, the way they reproduce, and their development of metamorphosis.