AY Honors/Crustaceans/Answer Key
1. Name at least four characteristics of a crustacean.
Like all Arthropods, Crustaceans have an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed limbs. Most crustaceans have biramous limbs (limbs that branch into two, rather than uniramous, or in a single series of segments), breath through gills, have two pair of antennae, seven or more pairs of limbs, and mouths made up of one pair of mandibles and two pair of maxillae.
2. What is an exoskeleton?
An exoskeleton is the hard outside covering in crustaceans (and many other animals, including all of the arthropods). In crustaceans, the exoskeleton is made of the protein chitin, reinforced with calcium. Crustacean exoskeletons do not grow with the animal, thus as the animal grows, it must periodically shed (or molt) its exoskeleton. The crustacean is frequently vulnerable following the molt until its new exoskeleton hardens.
If you have ever seen "soft-shell crabs" listed at a restaurant or in a grocery store or fish market, these are crabs who have just molted, but their new exoskeletons have not yet hardened.
3. What file does this group belong to?
[I believe the question should be translated as what phylum, rather than file]
Crustaceans are classified in the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Crustacea.
4. How does the body of these animals divide itself?
[Perhaps rephrase as "Describe the divisions of Crustacean bodies" or "How are crustacean bodies divided"]
Like all Arthropods, Crustacean bodies are made of three main divisions - the Head, Thorax and Abdomen. In many crustaceans, the head and thorax are fused into a cephalothorax. Each body division can be composed of several segments, each segment often having its own pair of appendages. The abdomen in crustaceans such as shrimp and lobsters is hinged in many segments, allowing them greater flexibility. In crabs, the abdomen is often folded under the animal, making them appear tail-less.
