Animal Encyclopedia Category: Cephalopods, Crustaceans, & Other Shellfish

The Antarctic krill is an extremely common, pelagic crustacean native to the waters surrounding Antarctica and is one of the most important prey species near the bottom of Southern Ocean food webs. It can form dense aggregations, and scientists believe the total combined biomass of this species to be as much as several hundred million … Read more

Tiger prawns progress through several life history stages in a short amount of time and mature quickly. Adults live on soft bottoms. Unlike many aquatic invertebrates, tiger prawns reproduce via internal fertilization. After mating, females release hundreds of thousands of fertilized eggs, which quickly hatch. Planktonic larvae live in the open ocean, and juveniles live in estuaries, before moving … Read more

The giant triton is an active predator and is known to aggressively chase its prey, which it detects with its excellent sense of smell. Though the chase may seem slow to human observers, the giant triton is known for relatively high speeds, especially for a snail. It prefers to eat other snails and sea stars, most notably … Read more

The flamingo tongue is a small marine snail that lives on coral reefs in the western Atlantic Ocean. This species is very colorful, with bright pink or orange coloration and black spots. Interestingly, these colors are not associated with the shell, which is somewhat drab. Instead, the color comes from the marine snail’s soft tissue, which … Read more

The American lobster (also known as the Maine lobster) is a large-bodied, clawed lobster that supports a large, lucrative fishery throughout its range. This species is closely related to the European lobster but only distantly related to the spiny lobsters of the Caribbean and California, all of which are also commercially targeted species. The American lobster … Read more

The American horseshoe crab is not a true crab and is not even a crustacean at all. In fact, this species is more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. As a broader group, horseshoe crabs have been around for at least 450 million years, making them one of the … Read more

Barnacles, somewhat surprisingly, are crustaceans (like crabs, lobsters, krill, etc.). Unlike most crustaceans, however, adult barnacles are sessile – they can’t move. After a short phase spent as planktonic larvae, barnacles settle, attach to a hard substrate, and never move again. The Acorn Barnacle is one species in a large group of species with the … Read more

The rings of a southern blue-ringed octopus are particularly vivid when an individual is threatened or agitated. In addition to the bright blue rings, these octopuses are famous for having extremely potent venom that can be strong enough to kill a person. There is currently no known anti-venom to treat a person who has been bitten. The southern … Read more

Red king crabs are covered with a spiny exoskeleton that provides them some protection from potential predators, but at different stages of its lifecycle, the species is preyed upon by fishes, octopuses, and some marine mammals. Red king crabs are also known to be occasionally cannibalistic. Red king crabs are omnivorous and will eat just … Read more

The queen conch is a large marine snail that lives in the Caribbean Sea and adjacent waters and is one of the most valuable fishery resources for every country throughout its range. Reaching its maximum length of approximately one foot (30 cm) in three to five years, the queen conch spends its growth resources thickening … Read more