The Crazy Crayfish and Grasshopper
Rachel Shen. Vu-PAPBio-P2. Anthropod Lab.
Crayfish and Grasshopper
Both the Crayfish and the Grasshopper come from the phylum Arthropoda. The scientific name for the crayfish is Astacoidea while the scientific name for the grasshopper is Caelifera. The crayfish is a Malacostraca in class while a grasshopper is classified under the class Insecta.
Crayfish are also commonly known as crawfish, a type of food that is eaten by humans at many parties during late March and early April as it is “crawfish season”. Crayfish are more closely related to lobsters than to grasshoppers for they come from the same class. Crayfish use feather-like gills to breathe and cannot stand polluted water. They live in areas of fresh water (running) and do not live in water bodies that freeze to the bottom. The body contains 2 main parts—the cephalothorax and abdomen. They also may have one pair of appendages. It uses its claws (chelipeds) to catch prey and to defend itself. Its prey include insects, worms, insect larvae, and the eggs of many smaller creatures. They eat both dead and live things, as long as the dead things have not died too long ago. Its predators include snakes, raccoons, opossums, and muskrats.
Grasshoppers are found in fields, gardens, and crops worldwide in different climates. They are herbivores and they mainly consume plants such as grass. Grasshoppers are divided into 3 main areas—the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. They can walk, hop, and fly as a way of maneuvering around and they grow up to 5 inches long in length. They have large back legs and smaller frontal legs. They go through 3 stages as they grow—the egg, the nymph, and then adult. The nymph stage looks like the adult stage except the grasshopper is missing its wings. It will develop wings as it sheds and becomes an adult. The life expectancy for a grasshopper is 1 year. Its main predators include birds, rodents, lizards, and spiders.
Examining the Crayfish and Grasshopper
Objectives of the Anthropods
Exterior Anatomy of a Crayfish
Exterior Anatomy of a Grasshopper
Circulatory System of a Grasshopper
Circulatory System of the Crayfish
The circulatory system is related to the respiration system in order to allow oxygen rich blood cells to travel around the body of the animal as the digestive system is related when there are nutrients taken from the small intestine for body circulation.
Diagram of a crayfish
Diagram of a grasshopper
Grasshopper sample
Fun Facts!
Did you know that crayfish are nocturnal? They do most of their hunting at night.
Did you know that grasshopper can make music by rubbing their wings/legs together?
Did you know that you can tell the gender of a grasshopper apart by its abdomen? (males have one part, females have two separate parts)
Did you know that both animals have a dorsal blood vessel?
Did you know that both animals have a nerve cord on the inside of their body?
Did you know that the green glands of a crayfish act like the kidneys?
Works Cited
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/crayfish_(cambarus).htm
http://www.bugfacts.net/grasshopper.php
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/fact/images/RustyCrayfishJeffGunderson.jpg
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/data/13030/pn/ft3t1nb2pn/figures/ft3t1nb2pn_00042.gif
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073212040/63803/0612bl.jpg
http://entomology.unl.edu/charts/circulat.gif
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/G/GrasshopperHearts.html
http://www2.gsu.edu/~bioasx/closeopen.html
http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/isr/biology/biolab46b.htm