decapod

American Heritage Dictionary:

dec·a·pod

(dĕk'ə-pŏd') pronunciation

A crustacean of the order Decapoda, such as a crab, lobster, or shrimp, characteristically having ten legs, each joined to a segment of the thorax.
A cephalopod mollusk, such as a squid or cuttlefish, having ten armlike tentacles.

adj.
Of or relating to the Decapoda or a decapod.

[From New Latin Decapoda, order name : DECA- + -poda, -pod.]

decapodal de·cap'o·dal (dĭ-kăp'ə-dəl) or de·cap'o·dan (-dən) or de·cap'o·dous (-dəs) adj.

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Any of more than 8,000 species (order Decapoda) of crustaceans having five pairs of legs attached to the thorax. The shrimps and shrimplike species, which can be as small as 0.5 in. (12 mm) long, have a slender body with a long abdomen, a well-developed fantail, and, often, long, slender legs. The crabs and crablike species, whose claw span can measure 13 ft (4 m), have a flattened body and, frequently, stout short legs and a reduced tail fan. Decapods are primarily marine and are most abundant in shallow tropical waters, but they are commercially valuable throughout the world. Some species (e.g., hermit and fiddler crabs) are adapted to terrestrial environments. See also crab; crayfish; lobster; shrimp.

For more information on decapod, visit Britannica.com.

Columbia Encyclopedia:

decapod

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decapod (dĕk'əpŏd') (Gr.,=10 feet), name for invertebrate animals of the crustacean order Decapoda (phylum Arthropoda) including the crabs, the lobsters and crayfish, and the true shrimps, all having five pairs of legs. The name Decapoda was also formerly applied to a very different group of animals, a cephalopod order including the cuttlefish and squids, characterized by two long and eight short tentacles. The cuttlefish are now classified in the order Sepioidea and the squids in the order Teuthoidea of the class Cephalopoda in the phylum Mollusca.

Rhymes:

decapod

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See words rhyming with "decapod."

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Decapod

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Several things share the name decapod, from the Greek decapoda meaning "ten-legged":

Crustaceans in the Order Decapoda, such as lobsters and crabs
Several steam locomotive wheel arrangements were also called Decapods, especially the 2-10-0
Decapod was an experimental 0-10-0 steam locomotive built by the Great Eastern Railway.

Also:

Decapodians are decapod-like fictional characters in the cartoon series Futurama
Decapodiformes are ten-limbed cephalopods with eight arms and two tentacles

		American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Decapod. Read more

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