De*cap"o*da (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ten + , , foot.]

1. Zool.

The order of Crustacea which includes the shrimps, lobsters, crabs, etc.

⇒ They have a carapace, covering and uniting the somites of the head and thorax and inclosing a gill chamber on each side, and usually have five (rarely six) pairs of legs. They are divided into two principal groups: Brachyura and Macrura. Some writers recognize a third (Anomura) intermediate between the others.

2. Zool.

A division of the dibranchiate cephalopods including the cuttlefishes and squids. See Decacera.

 

© Webster 1913.

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