Beetles and other many-legged creatures belong to a huge “family” of animals we call arthropods . All arthropods have a jointed body, a shell, and three or more pairs of legs. Though arthropod means \”jointed foot,” it is the legs that are jointed.
There are many kinds of arthropods in the sea. Shrimp, crabs, lobsters,
and barnacles are seagoing arthropods that have a special name. They are
called crustaceans. The name means \”shelled ones.”
All crustaceans have a number of pairs of legs. Most have feelers, or
antennae for touching and feeling. Some can
also smell with their antennae.
All crustaceans breathe with gills. And most of them shed their shells
from time to time. For a while, the crustacean’s body is soft, and can
grow. Then, its outer skin becomes hard and is its new shell.
Some crustaceans are swimmers. Some only scuttle about on the bottom.
And some stick themselves head down onto a rock and never move
again—except to wiggle their legs!
common lobster
The gawky lobster
Many people think that lobsters are bright red. That’s because they’ve only seen cooked lobsters. Cooking turns them red. But live lobsters are greenish, or bluish, or brownish. A lobster is a…
All kinds of crabs
Someone who is grouchy is often called a \”crab.” That doesn’t seem fair to the real crabs. There’s no reason to think that any of them are grouchy! In fact, they’re a big family with many odd and…
Some surprising shrimp
The bandit lay waiting. He wasn’t very big, but he had a pistol cocked and ready! Suddenly, a fish appeared, swimming slowly past the bandit’s hiding place. The bandit’s pistol went off with a loud…
The life of a barnacle
A barnacle spends most of its life standing on its head and waving its legs! When a baby barnacle hatches out of its egg it has one eye and twelve legs. For several weeks it swims about in the…
