Skeleton Shrimp Use 18 Appendages to Feed, Fight and ... Frolic
From Deep Look
Summary
Skeleton shrimp are see-through, twig-thin crustaceans that cling to seaweed and reach out with a whole toolkit of specialized limbs. Deep Look counts up the 18 appendages this tiny animal uses to grab food, hold on, and fend off rivals.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A skeleton shrimp's body is a row of specialized limbs -- some are hooks for gripping seaweed, some are claws for grabbing food or fighting, and antennae sense the water. Each appendage has its own job, and together they keep the animal fed and anchored.
- What are some of the different jobs the skeleton shrimp's limbs do?
- Why is it useful to have body parts that each do one special thing?
- How do the shrimp's gripping limbs help it live on waving seaweed?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: appendage, crustacean, structure, survive.
Try it: Draw a skeleton shrimp and label three limbs with the job each one does (grip, grab food, sense). Write why having special parts helps it survive.