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 550 recipes in total:

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Potted Woodlice      Origin: Britain	Rosehip and Rowan Marmalade      Origin: Britain	Shrimp Sauce      Origin: Britain
Prawn Balti      Origin: Britain	Rowan Jelly      Origin: Britain	Sigá (Prawn and Okra Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Prawn Balti      Origin: Britain	Saba Callaloo      Origin: Saba	Singapore Hokkien Mee      Origin: Singapore
Prawn Balti      Origin: Britain	Sacha Sauce      Origin: Taiwan	Sint Maarten Crab Backs      Origin: Sint Maarten
Prawn Biryani      Origin: India	Saka Saka du Mali (Malian Sweet Potato Leaf Sauce)      Origin: Mali	Smoky Fish Skewers      Origin: Britain
Prawn Caldine      Origin: India	Salade de la mer (Seafood Salad)      Origin: France	Smoky Prawn Jollof Rice      Origin: Nigeria
Prawn Cocktail      Origin: Britain	Salsa de Cacahuete con Pollo (Peanut Sauce with Chicken)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Sneezewort Arroz de Jambú      Origin: Britain
Prawn Curry      Origin: Bangladesh	Sambal Belacan      Origin: Malaysia	Soft-wrapped Pork and Prawn Rolls      Origin: Fusion
Prawn Kofta Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Sambal Telur      Origin: Malaysia	Sole avec La Sauce Joinville (Sole with Joinville Sauce)      Origin: France
Prawn Laksa      Origin: Malaysia	Sambal Tomat (Tomato Sambal)      Origin: Aruba	Somlar Kari Saek Mouan (Chicken Red Curry)      Origin: Cambodia
Prawn Laksa      Origin: Cocos Islands	Samilolo (Fermented Coconut Sauce)      Origin: Samoa	Soupe Kandja      Origin: Mali
Prawn Pasanda      Origin: Britain	Samphire and Crab Salad      Origin: Britain	Spanish Prawns      Origin: Britain
Prawn Patia      Origin: India	Samusa aux Crevettes Réunionaise (Reunion Shrimp Samosas)      Origin: Reunion	Special Efo Riro      Origin: Nigeria
Prawn Patties      Origin: Trinidad	Sao Tomean Calulu      Origin: Sao Tome	Spiced Crab Apples      Origin: Britain
Prawn Phall      Origin: Britain	Satay      Origin: Indonesia	Spicy Cranberry Shrimp      Origin: America
Prawn Powder      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Sauce Gbanbouda (Tô with Okra Sauce and Peanuts)      Origin: Guinea	Spicy Prawns and Green Lentils      Origin: Fusion
Prawn Puri      Origin: Britain	Sauce Gombo Togolaise (Togolese Okra Sauce)      Origin: Togo	Spider Crab Casserole      Origin: Britain
Prawn Tikka      Origin: Britain	Scallop and Prawn Chu Chee      Origin: Thailand	Spider-crab Salad with Cornish Earlies      Origin: Britain
Prawn, Mangetout and Cashew Nut Stir-fry      Origin: Australia	Scillas (King Prawns)      Origin: Roman	Spring Rolls      Origin: Fusion
Prawn, Sweet Cicely and Tomato Risotto      Origin: Italy	Scrambled Eggs with Woodlice      Origin: Britain	St Helena Crab Soup      Origin: St Helena
Prawn-stuffed Trout      Origin: Britain	Seafood Amok      Origin: Cambodia	Steamed Black-eyed Bean Dumplings      Origin: Ghana
Pressure Cooker Jambalaya      Origin: American	Seafood and Bacon Kebabs      Origin: Britain	Steamed Crawfish      Origin: Liberia
Prig Gang Som (Sour Curry Paste)      Origin: Thailand	Seafood Chili      Origin: American	Steamed Prawns with Wolfberries      Origin: Singapore
Prik Gaeng Panang (Panang Red Curry Paste)      Origin: Thailand	Seafood Curry      Origin: Scotland	Stiw Pysgotwr (Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Welsh
Pudding Egusi (Egusi Pudding)      Origin: Cameroon	Seafood Pastechi      Origin: Sint Eustatius	Street Food Pad Thai      Origin: Thailand
Quiche au Saumon et Crevettes (Salmon and Prawn Quiche)      Origin: France	Seafood Pastechi      Origin: Saba	Stufato del Pescatore (Italian Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Italy
Quizaca (Cassava Leaf Stew)      Origin: Angola	Seafood Pastechi      Origin: Aruba	Surf and Turf Kebabs      Origin: Britain
Ragout d'Igname (Yam Porridge)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Seafood Pastechi      Origin: Curacao	Tähroro (Fermented Coconut Sauce)      Origin: Rotuma
Red Curry Risotto with Prawns      Origin: Fusion	Sewin Gyda Saws Perlysiau (Sea Trout with Herb Sauce)      Origin: Welsh	Tai Monomono (Fermented Coconut Sauce)      Origin: Cook Islands
Red-red      Origin: Ghana	Shacha Sauce      Origin: China	Taioro      Origin: Tahiti
Rendang Daging (Malaysian Beef Rendang)      Origin: Malaysia	Shacha Sauce      Origin: Taiwan	Taiwanese Hot Pot      Origin: Taiwan
Renga Renga (Burundi Sweet Potato Leaf Stew)      Origin: Burundi	Shito (Dark Chilli Sambal)      Origin: Ghana	Tam Mak Hoong (Laotian Papaya Salad)      Origin: Laos
Risoto Cranc Celtaidd a Chorgimychiaid Bae Ceredigion (Risotto of Celtic Crab and Cardigan Bay Prawns)      Origin: Welsh	Shitor Din      Origin: Ghana
Rosehip and Crab Apple Jelly      Origin: Britain	Shorshe Chingri (Bengali Prawns and Sea Blite)      Origin: Bangladesh

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