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CRUSTACEAPEDIA

~ the free crustacean encyclopedia ~

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Crustaceapedia is a free encyclopedia of crabs, lobsters, shrimp, isopods, barnacles, and the rest of the shelled clan. Hobby editors have been typing it up since 2001. Pour a coffee, let the modem finish its song, and pick a creature.

1,284 articles	86 editors	Founded 14 March 2001

Species folder

Seven files are on the server. The rest of the cabinet is labeled in marker and hope.

Did you know?

Horseshoe crabs are not crustaceans. They are chelicerates, closer to spiders than to true crabs.
To grow, a crustacean molts. It sheds the old shell and hides while the new one hardens.
Finland's native crayfish is the noble crayfish, Astacus astacus. It needs clean, cool rivers.

Recently saved

02 Nov 2004 — Mantis shrimp: punch speed corrected to 80 km/h. Fast. Not a rifle.
19 Oct 2004 — Coconut crab: added a note that they can drown.
03 Sep 2004 — New file: giant isopod. Do not feed it your homework.

Anatomy, the short version

Exoskeleton

The shell is a cuticle of chitin. In many crabs and lobsters it is reinforced with calcium carbonate. It cannot grow, so it has to be shed.

Gills

Most aquatic crustaceans breathe with feathery gills tucked under the carapace. The coconut crab keeps a version of those gills moist inside a chamber and lives on land.

Appendages

The basic plan is a pair of limbs on each segment: antennae, mouthparts, claws (chelipeds), walking legs, and the little swimming pleopods under the tail.

Where they live

Between the tides

Shore crabs and barnacles live in the strip between high and low water. When the sea steps out they shut tight, or tuck themselves into weed.

The deep sea

Spider crabs and giant isopods sit on cold, dark bottoms. Dinner arrives as a slow fall of dead plankton, and sometimes as a whale.

Rivers and islands

Crayfish walk the beds of rivers and lakes. A few crabs left the sea entirely, though many still send their larvae back to salt water.

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About this site

Crustaceapedia is a fan encyclopedia in the spirit of the early web. Articles are written for curious readers, and the Latin names are there so you can find the real papers. This is not a university database. If a fact matters for school, check a textbook or a review.

The drawings are ours. The visitor counter lives in your browser. No modem was harmed, though a few took it personally.

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