decapod

decapod (dek'upod") [key](Gr.,=10 feet), name for invertebrate animals of the crustacean order Decapoda (phylum Arthropoda) including the crabs, the lobsters and crayfish, and the true shrimps, all having five pairs of legs. The name Decapoda was also formerly applied to a very different group of animals, a cephalopod order including the cuttlefish and squids, characterized by two long and eight short tentacles. The cuttlefish are now classified in the order Sepioidea and the squids in the order Teuthoidea of the class Cephalopoda in the phylum Mollusca.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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