Taxonomy of Shellfish
Dr. Amrutha Gopan
Assistant Professor
School of Fisheries
Centurion University of Technology and Management
Odisha
Introduction
The systematic zoology is the science that
discovers names, determines relationships,
classifies and studies the evolution of living
organisms.
It is an important branch in biology and is
considered to be one of the major subdivisions
of biology
Having a broader base than genetics,
biochemistry and physiology.
Systematics includes taxonomy
The term taxonomy is derived from the Greek
word 'taxis' - arrangement and 'nomos' - law.
The name taxonomy was first proposed by
Candolle (1813).
Taxonomy is defined as the theory and practice
of classifying organisms.
In Fisheries science, the taxonomy of aquatic
animals could be studied as two major
components i.e. shellfish taxonomy and
finfish taxonomy.
The shellfish includes two highly diversified phyla
i.e. phylum Arthropoda and phylum Mollusca.
These two groups are named as shellfishes
because of the prominent carapace made of
chitin as exoskeleton in arthropods and shells
made of calcium in molluscs.
These two major phyla are invertebrates.
They show enormous diversity in their
morphology, in the habitats they occupy and in
their biology.
They include about 6.20 million species with wide
habitat preference.
The members of these two phyla have much
economically important groups particularly
lobsters, shrimps, crabs, oysters, chanks,
squids and cuttlefishes.
General characters of the Phylum
Arthropoda
Arthropoda (Arthon- Jointed; podos- legs)
The Phylum Arthropoda includes spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites,
crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes and insects.
This is the most successful phylum of animals both in diversity,
distribution and in number of species and individuals.
They show remarkable adaptive features and are successfully
adapted to life in water, land and in air.
About 80% of all known animal species are represented in this
phylum.
They can survive great extremes of temperature, toxicity, acidity
and salinity.
General characters
1. Cosmopolitan in distribution found in aquatic,
terrestrial and aerial forms.
Some are ectoparasitic and vectors of disease.
2. Body have jointed appendages or legs (which are
modified to different structures to perform different
functions like jaws, gills, walking legs, paddle). There
may be 3 pairs, 4 pairs, 5 pairs, many pairs.
3. Body is triploblastic.
4. Bilaterally symmetrical.
5. Organ system level of organization.
6. Body is divisible into head, thorax and abdomen.
NOTE: In some (crustacean and arachnida) body is
divisible into cephalothorax (head and thorax is fused)
and abdomen.
7. This is the first group to develop a true head, which contains
sense organs and feeding organs specialized for their particular
habitats.
8. Body is covered with chitinous exoskeleton.
9. They are haemocoelomate. Coelom i.e. body cavity is filled with
blood or fluid.
10. Head bears a pair of compound eyes and antenna.
11. Locomotion takes place by jointed appendages.
12. Digestive system complete with mouth, esophagus, stomach,
intestine and rectum with associated glands for digestion.
13. Respiration takes place by general body surface or gills (aquatic
forms) and trachea or book gills ( in terrestrial forms).
14. Circulatory system is of open type i.e. do not have blood vessels
and enters directly into the body chambers. The blood is colorless.
15. Paired excretory glands (green glands) seen in aquatic
crustaceans (shrimps and lobsters) while terrestrial forms
have malphigian tubules as excretory organs.
NOTE: Aquatic forms are ammonotelic, terrestrial forms are
uricotelic.
15. Nervous system is of annelidian type, which consists of
brain and ventral nerve cord.
16. Unisexual i.e. sexes are separate.
17. Fertilization is internal or external.
18. They are either oviparous or ovoviviparous.
19. Development may be direct or indirect. During
development, larval stages seen in most of the arthropods.
The free swimming larva undergoes metamorphosis to
become an adult.
20. Moulting or ecdysis, a common feature seen in arthropods.
Moulting takes place from very young larval stages onwards.
After the moult, the inner body increases in size and is able to
adjust its expansion due to the softness of the cuticle.
Examples
Zoological name Common name
Limulus -Horse shoe crab or King crab
Daphnia -Water flea
Cancer -Crab
Palaemon -Prawn
Astacus -Cray fish
Scolopendra -Centipede
Julus -Millipede
Aranea -Spider
Periplaneta americana -Cockroach
The Phylum Arthropoda is classified
into four sub-phyla as below:
Phylum
Arthropoda
Sub-phylum Sub-phylum Sub-phylum
Sub-phylum 3.Mandibulata 4.Arachnida
1.Trilobitomorpha
2.Chelicerata
Among the above four sub-phyla, only the sub-phylum
Mandibulata consists of the organisms of our
interests.
Subphylum : Mandibulata
Class 2 - Class 3 -
Class 1 - Class 4 - Class 5 - Class 6 -
Diplopod Chilopod
Crustacea Symphyla Pauropoda Insecta
a a
