Crustaceans

Classification and description

Crustaceans are invertebrate aquatic creatures belonging to the group of Arthropods; they are equipped with articulated appendages responsible for movement, while the body is provided with a resistant casing composed of a matrix based on calcareous salts and is called the carapace. The carapace, in the largest crustaceans, constitutes a real armor that protects the head (capothorax) and partly the thorax (cephalothorax).

The presence of 10 thoracic legs distinguishes a group of crustaceans also called Decapods; of these, many are characterized by a pair of front legs transformed into pincers, the claws, while frontally two pairs of appendages can be distinguished: the antennae and the antennae. Crustaceans generally live immersed in water, on various bottoms and at various bathymetric depths, even if a part of them, the Brachiuri, have the ability to remain dry for a limited period of time (amphibious characteristic).