Crustacea

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/crustacea

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Crustacea
2. What is the habitat?Ubiquitous in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems globally
3. What are crustaceans and why are they so cool?Crustaceans are a big family of animals that includes shrimp, crabs, lobsters, and tiny plankton. They have a hard shell made of chitin and jointed legs that let them walk, swim, and grab food.
4. How do crustaceans grow if they have hard shells?Because their shells are hard, crustaceans must shed their old shell in a process called molting. After molting, a new, larger shell grows around them so they can keep getting bigger.

Phylum Arthropoda: A major animal phylum characterized by segmented bodies and exoskeletons.
Biramous Appendages: Limb structures that are divided into two distinct branches.
Adaptive Radiation: The rapid diversification of a lineage into new forms to fill ecological niches.