🐚🦀🦐 My Report about Crustaceans 🐚🦀🦐

Have you ever seen a crustacean?  Did you know that most of the animals that are Crustaceans are sea creatures and live under the ocean or near the ocean.

Crustaceans is an Arthropod of the large, mainly aquatic group.  lobsters, shrimp, crab, crayfish, krill, barnacles or even woodlice (slaters) are all a Crustaceans. They can be found in lakes, at beaches or in rock pools ( anywhere that is wet or damp ) except for one… a woodlouse.  A woodlouse is a type of bug that is mostly found in Gardens and in the soil. All Crustaceans have a hard shell that covers its body and it is known as an exoskeleton. My favourite Crustacean is hermit crabs because they they are cute when they walk. 🦀

How they look

The body of a crustacean is divided into segments or parts. The cephalon which is the head, the thorax and the pleon which is the abdomen. Did you know that sometimes the head and thorax may be fused together to form a cephalothorax, which may be covered by a single large part of the exoskeleton. This is what you see when you look at the shell of a crab. Various parts of the exoskeleton may be fused together also, and this is why you see different looking  crustaceans.

What they eat

Crabs : When crabs reach to 2 - 4 years of age they will move to deeper water and join the adults where they eat worms, clams, mussels, snails and sea urchins.  They also eat sand dollars, barnacles ( which is a Crustacea ), fish parts and Algae.

Small water crustaceans eat microscopic organisms, algae and plankton. Larger ones have a diet of snails, plants and the larvae and the eggs of other marine life. Large lobsters and crabs survive on fish and other crustaceans which they hunt by stalking its prey.   

Crustaceans are very important invertebrates because they help keep our oceans clean and free of dead animals. You can help protect by picking up rubbish before it gets to the sea and making sure you don't over fish them.