What does crustacean mean?
Word: Crustacean
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Crustacean means an animal with a hard outer shell and jointed legs, such as a crab, lobster or prawn, that usually lives in water.
How do you spell crustacean?
Syllables: crus - ta - cean
Tricky part: The sh sound near the end is written ce. Crustacian is the usual slip, and some pupils write crustashan.
Watch out for: crustacian, crustashan
Memory tip: Most of these creatures live in the ocean, which writes its sh sound with the same ce.
Crustacean in a sentence
Example 1: The aquarium's new tank holds a giant crustacean from the deep sea.
Example 2: Mud crabs and prawns are among the crustaceans of Chilika Lake.
Example 3: Our biology project compares a crustacean's body with an insect's.
Fun Fact
Woodlice in the garden are crustaceans, not insects. They are land-living cousins of the crab.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
cr_st_cean
a) u, a
b) u, e
c) a, a
d) o, a
Show answer
a) u, a. The opening vowel is the u of cup and the stressed one is the long a of day.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
crusstacean
a) s
b) r
c) t
d) c
Show answer
a) s. A lone s comes before the t, just as it does in crust.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
A little aeurctsacn scuttled across the wet sand and vanished into its hole.
a) cormorant
b) crustacean
c) crocodile
d) caterpillar
Show answer
b) crustacean. The u in the jumble is the quick check: crocodile, caterpillar and cormorant have none.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. plankton 2. cuttelfish 3. crustacean 4. mollusc
a) a soft-bodied animal such as a snail
b) a sea creature with ten arms that squirts ink
c) tiny living things that drift in water
d) a hard-shelled creature like a shrimp
Show answer
b) a sea creature with ten arms that squirts ink. Cuttlefish has le straight after the double t, as little does.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A fishing net brings up four catches, but only one is a crustacean. Which one?
a) a barnacle
b) a starfish
c) a jellyfish
d) a sardine
Show answer
a) a barnacle
2. Why does a growing crab have to shed its outer covering?
a) its legs have stopped working
b) the water has grown too warm
c) its hard shell cannot stretch
d) the sun has faded its colour
Show answer
c) its hard shell cannot stretch
