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Canada's species
 
Crustaceans

Crustaceans

Amphipods | Crabs, shrimps, and lobsters

Ghost crab. Photo: George Harrison, USFWSFirst appearing in the fossil record half a billion years ago, crustaceans are to the oceans what insects are to land. Many species are commercially important as food sources, and others form krill, which is the main food source for whales. Like the other arthropods (insects, spiders, and their relatives), crustaceans must molt their protective exoskeletons to grow. Several groups have an incredible number of appendages, each one specialized for a single purpose. Only the Isopoda (isopods, or pillbugs) have made it onto land, and even then they are only found in moist environments. There are over 30 000 species of crustaceans, some of the most well-known being the crabs and lobsters, copepods, pill bugs, shrimp, and brine shrimps (better known as "sea monkeys").

Amphipods (order Amphipoda)

Caprella laeviuscula
Mayerella banksia
Metacaprella kennerlyi

 

Crabs, Shrimps and Lobsters (order Decapoda)

Lebbeus groenlandicus
Axius serratus
Stone Crab Lithodes maja
Neolithodes grimaldii
American Lobster Homarus americanus
Rock Crab Cancer irroratus
Lucifer faxoni
Sclerocrangon boreas
Acadian Hermit-Crab Pagurus acadianus
Striped Pink Shrimp Pandalus montagui