Most crustaceans are free-living aquatic animals, but some are terrestrial (e.g. woodlice, sandhoppers), some are parasitic (e.g. Rhizocephala, fish lice, tongue worms) and some are sessile (e.g. barnacles). The group has an extensive fossil record, reaching back to the Cambrian. More than 7.9 million tons of crustaceans per year are harvested by fishery or farming for human consumption, consisting mostly of shrimp and prawns. Krill and copepods are not as widely fished, but may be the animals with the greatest biomass on the planet, and form a vital part of the food chain. The scientific study of crustaceans is known as carcinology (alternatively, malacostracology, crustaceology or crustalogy), and a scientist who works in carcinology is a carcinologist.

The body of a crustacean is composed of segments, which are grouped into three regions: the cephalon or head, the pereon or thorax, and the pleon or abdomen. The head and thorax may be fused together to form a cephalothorax, which may be covered by a single large carapace. The crustacean body is protected by the hard exoskeleton, which must be moulted for the animal to grow. The shell around each somite can be divided into a dorsal tergum, ventral sternum and a lateral pleuron. Various parts of the exoskeleton may be fused together.

The name "crustacean" dates from the earliest works to describe the animals, including those of Pierre Belon and Guillaume Rondelet, but the name was not used by some later authors, including Carl Linnaeus, who included crustaceans among the "Aptera" in his Systema Naturae. The earliest nomenclatural valid work to use the name "Crustacea" was Morten Thrane Brünnich's Zoologiæ Fundamenta in 1772, although he also included chelicerates in the group.

The traditional classification of Crustacea based on morphology recognised four to six classes. Bowman and Abele (1982) recognised 652 extant families and 38 orders, organised into six classes: Branchiopoda, Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Maxillopoda, Ostracoda, and Malacostraca. Martin and Davis (2001) updated this classification, retaining the six classes but including 849 extant families in 42 orders. Despite outlining the evidence that Maxillopoda was non-monophyletic, they retained it as one of the six classes, although did suggest that Maxillipoda could be replaced by elevating its subclasses to classes. Since then phylogenetic studies have confirmed the polyphyly of Maxillopoda and the paraphyletic nature of Crustacea with respect to Hexapoda. Recent classifications recognise ten to twelve classes in Crustacea or Pancrustacea, with several former maxillopod subclasses now recognised as classes (e.g. Thecostraca, Tantulocarida, Mystacocarida, Copepoda, Branchiura and Pentastomida).

Many crustaceans are consumed by humans, and nearly 10,700,000 tons were harvested in 2007; the vast majority of this output is of decapod crustaceans: crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, langoustine and prawns. Over 60% by weight of all crustaceans caught for consumption are shrimp and prawns, and nearly 80% is produced in Asia, with China alone producing nearly half the world's total. Non-decapod crustaceans are not widely consumed, with only 118,000 tons of krill being caught, despite krill having one of the greatest biomasses on the planet. Krill are, however, a speciality in China and Japan and are used pickled in Korea. They are also consumed in Artic regions and are being introduced to new consumers as fusion recipes using frozen and tinned krill. Gooseneck barnacles (Pollicipes pollicipes) are a speciality of Spanish cuisine (recipes including krill and gooseneck barnacles can be found in the links below). The Pacific goose barnacle, Pollicipes elegans is also consumed, particularly in Alaska. The Japanese goose barnacle, Capitulum mitella is eaten in Japan. The Chilean giant barnacle or picoroco (Austromegabalanus psittacus) is routinely fished for food. Woodlice are sometimes consumed by foragers. Dried prawns (locally known as crawfish) are used as a flavouring and thickener in West African stews.

The alphabetical list of all the Crustacean-based recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 630 recipes in total:

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Cebiche de Camarón (Prawn Ceviche)      Origin: Ecuador	Cocoa Nib Curried King Prawns      Origin: American	Crab Cakes      Origin: Fusion
Celebration Soup      Origin: Japan	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Christmas Island	Crab Fried Rice      Origin: China
Chamorro Shrimp Patties      Origin: Northern Mariana Islands	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Solomon Islands	Crab Sauce for Fish      Origin: Britain
Chamorro Shrimp Patties      Origin: Guam	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Niue	Crab with Devil Sauce      Origin: England
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: UAE	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Cocos Islands	Crabe Béninoise (Beninese Crabs)      Origin: Benin
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Oman	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Palau	Crabe et Riz (Crab and rice)      Origin: Saint-Martin
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Iraq	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Vanuatu	Crabes Épicées (Pepper Crabs)      Origin: Guinea
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Qatar	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Pitcairn Islands	Crabs (Marshallese Coconut Crab)      Origin: Marshall Islands
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Saudi Arabia	Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: New Caledonia	Cracas      Origin: Cape Verde
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Kuwait	Coconut Crab Delight      Origin: Palau	Cranc wedi Pobi â Bacwn wedi ei Fygu (Baked Crab with Smoked Bacon)      Origin: Welsh
Chebeh Rubyan (Prawn Balls)      Origin: Bahrain	Coconut Crab in Coconut Milk      Origin: Pitcairn Islands	Crayfish Curry      Origin: South Africa
Chemmeen Achar (Kerala-style Pickled Prawns)      Origin: Britain	Coconut Curry Prawns With Plantains      Origin: Antigua	Cream of Asparagus Soup      Origin: British
Chemmeen Manga Curry (Prawn and Mango Curry)      Origin: India	Coconut Curry Salmon      Origin: Fusion	Creamy Monkfish and Shellfish Potpie      Origin: British
Chemmeen Pacha Kurumilagittathu (Keralan Green Peppercorn Prawns)      Origin: India	Coconut Fish Curry II      Origin: Fusion	Crevettes à l'Indienne (Prawns in the Indian Style)      Origin: France
Chemmen Roast (Kerala Prawn Roast)      Origin: India	Coconut Shrimp      Origin: Aruba	Crevettes au Curry (Malagasy Prawn Curry)      Origin: Madagascar
Chevrettes à la vanille et coco (Prawns in a coconut-vanilla sauce)      Origin: Tahiti	Coconut-crusted Shrimp      Origin: Nauru	Crimped Cod      Origin: Britain
Chicken and Noodle Soup      Origin: Fusion	Congrejo al Coco (Coconut Crab)      Origin: Ecuador	Crimped Skate      Origin: Britain
Chicken and Prawn Curry      Origin: South Africa	Corgimwch dell Patagonia (Prawn Patagonia)      Origin: Welsh (Patagonia)	Crispy Antarctic Krill      Origin: China
Chicken and Prawn Koftas      Origin: Britain	Cornish Buttered Lobster      Origin: Britain	Crispy Crab Wontons      Origin: Fusion
Chilli Crab      Origin: Singapore	Cornish Cod with Samphire      Origin: Britain	Crockpot Bayou Gumbo      Origin: American
Chilli Crab      Origin: New Caledonia	Cornish Crab Cakes      Origin: Britain	Curaçao Sambal Tomat (Tomato Sambal)      Origin: Curacao
Chilli Sambol      Origin: Sri Lanka	Cornish Crab Chowder      Origin: England	Curried Prawn Noodle Soup with Stevia      Origin: Fusion
Chin Baung Kaw (Fried Roselle Leaves)      Origin: Myanmar	Cornish Crab Sandwich      Origin: Britain	Curry comorien (Comoros Curry)      Origin: Comoros
Chin Baung Kyaw (Fried Roselle Leaves)      Origin: Myanmar	Cornish Fish Pie      Origin: England	Curry Mouan (Chicken Curry)      Origin: Cambodia
Chinese Dumplings      Origin: China	Cosa-Cosa Camarão (Hot-Hot Prawns)      Origin: Angola	Curry Trey Ruah (Curried Snapper)      Origin: Cambodia
Chinese Fish Cakes      Origin: China	Cowl Bysk (Bisque Broth)      Origin: England	Cyw Iâr â Bwyd Môr (Chicken with Seafood)      Origin: Welsh
Chinese Hot Pot      Origin: China	Crab and Potato Soup      Origin: Scotland	Dadar Jagung (Prawn and Corn Fritters)      Origin: Indonesia
Chinese New Year Crispy Spring Rolls      Origin: China	Crab and Rice      Origin: Bahamas	Daging Bumbu Bali      Origin: Indonesia
Chinese Steamed Eggs      Origin: China	Crab and Rice      Origin: Turks Caicos	Deep Fried Coconut King Prawns      Origin: Britain
Christmas Island Crab Rendang      Origin: Christmas Island	Crab and Sweetcorn Soup      Origin: China	Demok (Taro Leaves in Coconut Milk)      Origin: Palau
Chu Chee Curry Paste      Origin: Thailand	Crab and Watercress Quiche      Origin: Britain	Dewberry Jelly      Origin: Britain
Chuck Rice with Gravy      Origin: Liberia	Crab Apple and Rosehip Jelly      Origin: Britain	Dominica Crab Backs      Origin: Dominica
Cigalas al Grill (Grilled Langoustine)      Origin: Ecuador	Crab Cake Stuffing      Origin: America
Cocktail de Crevettes (Senegalese Prawn Cocktail)      Origin: Senegal	Crab Cakes      Origin: British Virgin Islands

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