Jacqueline Heirieoke, age 23, of Lancaster, Penna., for her question

What are decapods?

Decapoda is the name‑of an order in the animal kingdom. It is coined from two older words meaning ten and foot. Now, who in the animal kingdom has ten feet? The insects have six and every proper spider has eight: The cats and dogs have four feet. We might say that the monkeys, the squirrels and the sea otters have two feet and two hands. A11 the birds have only two feet and no hands. None of these animals can be called decapods. But, if we hunt through, the oceans, we shall find many, many ten‑footed creatures.

The cuttlefish and the squid have tan snaky tentacles, These octopus cousins are sometimes classed as decapods, though strictly speaking they have no feet at the ends of their long arms. What's more, they are in no way related to the animals most usually called the decapods. These true decapods are a crusty group, all members of the great class of Crustacea.

Can you think of a crusty‑coated creature having ten lags?. Or perhaps he has sight legs plus a pair of pincers? Of course. There are the crabs and the lobsters, the shrimps and the crayfish. The giant of this order is the Japanese crab. His pincer legs may be six feet long.

The decapods all belong to the large phylum Arthropods, meaning the ones with jointed feat. The insects, the spiders and the scorpions . are also arthropods. These creatures have no bones. Their soft insides are held and supported by a tough outer covering. Spiders and many insects have coats of touch, leathery hide. Crabs and lobsters have hard coats of armour. The covering of an arthropod must have joints, or the creature would be unable to move.

The joints are are garters of elastic material. The arthropod has these elastic joints along his legs and maybe, :along his antennae and his eyestalks. He is sure to have pointed feet. All the decapods have pointed legs and feet for they too are arthropods. They also belong to the class Crustacea, the crusty ones. The sand fleas, and the barnacles are also crustaeans. The decapods are the tens footed crustaceans.

Let’s trace the family tree of one of the most famous decapoda. We call him a lobster. His phylum is Arthropods, his class is Crusta.cea. His order is Decapoda. His family name is Homaridae, a word which is coined from a Scandinavian word meaning of all things ‑ a lobster. Our tender and delicious Atlantic coast lobster has the fancy name Homarus americanus. His jointed feet make him an arthropod. His crusty coat makes him a crustacean. His ten feet make him a decapod. However, one pair of legs is greatly enlarged and modified to form a pair of vary bad tempered pincers.