decapod

decapod, (order Decapoda), any of more than 8,000 species of crustaceans (phylum Arthropoda) that include shrimp, lobsters, crayfish, hermit crabs, and crabs.

The presence of five pairs of thoracic legs (pereiopods) is the basis for the name decapod (from the Greek meaning “10 legs”). Members of the order exhibit great diversity in size and structure. The macrurous (shrimplike) species, which can be as small as 1 cm (0.5 inch), have elongated bodies with long abdomens, well-developed fan tails, and often long, slender legs. The brachyurous (crablike) types, which in the case of spider crabs can have spans of almost 4 metres (12 feet) between their outstretched claws, have bodies that are flattened and laterally expanded, frequently with stout, short legs and reduced tail fans.

Decapods are primarily marine animals and are most abundant in warm, shallow tropical waters, but they are exploited commercially throughout the world. Some shrimp, for example, live in the open ocean and possess light organs, or photophores, which are thought to aid in feeding, species recognition, or camouflage (by counterillumination). Approximately 10 percent of known decapod species occur in freshwater or terrestrial habitats. Survival in freshwater depends upon an organism’s ability to keep its blood concentration at a level higher than the medium and to reduce the permeability of its body surface. Those decapods that have colonized terrestrial environments, such as some species of hermit and fiddler crab, have evolved mechanisms to protect against desiccation and overheating while regulating the internal concentrations of their body fluids. Vascularization of the gill surfaces has made respiration possible on land for some species of decapods. Terrestrial decapods must usually return to the sea to spawn, while most freshwater decapods spend their entire life cycle in fresh water, commonly hatching their young as miniature adults.

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Decapods exist in a variety of relationships with other organisms. Members of some hermit crab species, for example, carry anemones or bryozoan colonies on the shell in a commensal relationship (one in which the colonies do not feed on the host tissue). The pea crab Pinnotheres ostreum, on the other hand, parasitically feeds on the American oyster, causing gill damage. Some shrimp have symbiotic relationships with fish; they remove parasites from the mouths and gills of the fish.

Decapods are behaviorally complex. Hermit crabs seek out empty shells to use as a protective covering, selecting successively larger ones to accommodate their growth. They discriminate between available shells based on each shell’s size, species, weight, and degree of physical damage. The two basic types of locomotion are swimming and crawling, though the macruran decapods are able to move swiftly backward by flexing their abdomens. Burrowing is accomplished by beating the leaflike swimmerets, or pleopods, or by digging with the thoracic legs.

There is generally a separation between the sexes, although there are some examples of simultaneous hermaphroditism (i.e., individuals with both male and female reproductive organs). In most groups fertilization is external, although in some species it is internal. Variations in patterns of mating activity are believed to be linked to the molting cycle. Male decapods can copulate only when their exoskeleton is fully hardened, while some females are capable of copulation only after a molt when their shells are soft. In most decapods the fertilized eggs are carried cemented to the abdominal appendages until they are hatched. After hatching they can be classified as one of four basic larval types, partly by their mode of locomotion: nauplius, protozoea, zoea, and postlarva. Most decapod crustacean larvae hatch in the zoea stage.

Decapods have three distinct body regions, each made up of segments, or somites: the head, thorax, and abdomen. The head and the thorax are fused and are often referred to as the cephalothorax. A pair of appendages is attached to each somite. The first two pairs, the first and second antennae, consist of a segmented stalk and flagella, and serve such sensory functions as olfaction, touch, and balance. The remaining three head appendages are either the crushing and chewing mandibles or the flattened, multilobed food manipulators. The anterior thoracic appendages serve as mouthparts, while the posterior pairs are the walking legs, or pereiopods. The remaining appendages may be modified for swimming, sperm transfer, pinching claws, or even forming a tail fan with the telson.

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A head shield, or carapace, covers the cephalothorax and extends over the gills, which are attached to the body wall of the thorax. The heart is located to the rear of the carapace above the gut, which is basically a straight tube consisting of the stomodeum, or foregut, the mesenteron, or midgut, and the proctodeum, or hindgut. The primary excretory organ is a gland (the “green gland”) that opens at the base of the antennae. The central nervous system consists of a supraesophageal ganglion with lateral connections to a subesophageal ganglion. The eyes, which may be absent in some deep-sea species, are usually well-developed with a pigmented, multifaceted cornea.