Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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 3.7 metres (12 ft) [45] – and the smallest, the 100-micrometre-long (0.004 in) Stygotantulus stocki. [46]
Directory of featured pictures Animals · Artwork · Culture, entertainment, and lifestyle · Currency · Diagrams, drawings, and maps · Engineering and technology · Food and drink · Fungi · History · Natural phenomena · People · Photographic techniques, terms, and equipment · Places · Plants · Sciences · Space · Vehicles · Other ...
The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and a mass of 20 kg (44 lb). Like other arthropods, crustaceans have an exoskeleton, which they moult to grow.
Crabs vary in size from the pea crab, a few millimeters wide, to the Japanese spider crab, with a leg span up to 4 m (13 ft). [6] Several other groups of crustaceans with similar appearances – such as king crabs and porcelain crabs – are not true crabs, but have evolved features similar to true crabs through a process known as carcinisation .
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 . [1] [2] Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various groups these may be reduced or missing. They are, from head to tail:
' ten-footed ') is a large order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, and includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is estimated to contain nearly 15,000 extant species in around 2,700 genera, with around 3,300 fossil species. [1]
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Donate; Pages for logged out editors learn more
The leg of a squat lobster, showing the segments; the ischium and merus are fused in many decapods. The legs of crustaceans are divided primitively into seven segments, which do not follow the naming system used in the other groups. They are: coxa, basis, ischium, merus, carpus, propodus, and dactylus.