Characteristic of arthropods

Characteristic of arthropods

The characteristic of the arthropods that we see today is the result of what they inherited from their ancestor. Out of 5 branches of arthropods the Crustaceans are the most successful in terms of their evolution. This can be seen in the image bellow.

This image shows the limbs of a crayfish and its function

           As we can see, all of the crayfish limbs has its own functions. Like a pair of antennas as a sensor to fell its surrounding, a pair of pincers for its defenses to fight of predators as well as their exoskeleton as their armor, many pairs of appendages for feeding, many pair of joints legs for walking and many pairs of swimmerets and tail fins for swimming.  

Exoskeleton

Exoskeleton is one of the main characteristics of an arthropods that plays an important role of keeping the them unharmed of injured if attack by predators. This is because underneath the exoskeleton is just a soft squishy skin that is vulnerable from attack. That is why exoskeleton is needed as an armor. To protect them selves.

Exoskeleton acts as an armor for the arthropods. Preventing the damage inflected by either its prey or its predators.