Crustaceans

The crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum .They include various familiar animals, such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish and barnacles.

Crustaceans have three distinct body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen, although the head and thorax may fuse to form a cephalothorax.The head bears two pairs of antennae, one pair of compound eyes and three pairs of mouthparts. The thorax and pleon bear a number of lateral appendages, including the gills, and the tail ends with a telson. Smaller crustaceans respire through their body surface by diffusion , and larger crustaceans respire with gills or, with abdominal lungs .

Crayfish Anatomy

cray1

Claw	ends of the largest of a crayfish limbs.
Rostrum	extension of a crayfish's shell.
Head	foremost part of a crayfish.
Thorax	upper part of a crayfish's body.
Abdomen	lower part of a crayfish's body.
Exopodite	external part of the uropod.
Endopodite	internal part of the uropod.
Uropod	swimming appendage of the crayfish.
Telson	last segment of the abdomen of a crayfish.
Segment	ring of the abdomen of a crayfish.
Walking leg	limb of a crayfish used for forward motion.
Coumpond eye (stalked eye)	complex sight organ of a crayfish.
Antennule	small antenna.
Cheliped	front leg which ends in pincers.
Antenna	organ of touch of a crayfish.

cray2

Encephalon	site of the mental functions of a crayfish.
Stomach	part of the digestive tract between the esophagus and the intestine.
Heart	blood-pumping organ of the crayfish.
Gonad	sex gland of a crayfish.
Extensor muscles	muscle that extends the tail of the crayfish.
Anus	outlet of the digestive tract.
Flexor muscle	muscle that bends the tail of the crayfish.
Digestive gland	glandular organ that produces digestive enzymes.
Ganglion of ventral nerve cord	budge related to a collection of nerves of the abdomen of a crayfish.
Ventral nerve cord	collection of nerves in the abdomen of a crayfish.
Maxilliped	pair of appendages of a crayfish used for holding prey.
Esophagus	part of the digestive tract between the mouth and the stomach.
Mandible	lower jaw.
Mouth	entrance to the digestive tract.
Green gland	antennary gland.
Eye	sight organ of a crayfish.

Document Actions

Careers Info

Navigation

Like us on Facebook