Comment on Give us your craziest ocean facts. 🦑

• NewSocialWhoDis@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Shrimp, lobsters, and crabs are kinds of bugs.

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  • andros_rex@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Arthropods, not bugs.

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    • NewSocialWhoDis@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Does “bugs” have a scientific meaning? I was assuming it was a layman’s term that I could abuse.

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      • andros_rex@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        An “insect” or “bug” is an arthropod with six legs in the class Insecta. There’s also “true bugs” which are in the order Hemiptera (or even just the suborder Heteroptera if you are super nitpicky) - this includes things like leafhoppers, aphids, assassin bugs…

        Within Insecta, we have Hemiptera, Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps), Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) and Odanata (dragonflies, damselflies).

        To get to crabs, lobsters, and shrimp, you have to zoom out to jointed exoskeletons - Arthropods.

        Other things that are “not bugs” but often called such - spiders, scorpions, whip scorpions and vinegaroons are all Arachnids (arthropods with specialized limbs called chalicerae - those cool things at the front of a spiders mouth), Rollie pollies/pill bugs are Isopods. Centipedes and millipedes are Myriapods.

        Your larger point about how it’s weird that people get grossed out by the idea of eating mealworms but are okay with chowing down on shrimp is a good one though.

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  • aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    weird how people will eat lobsters and crabs, but won’t eat grasshoppers and ants.

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    • NewSocialWhoDis@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Not sure what your definition of people is, but Mexicans, Ugandan, and Koreans all eat grasshoppers (and probably others). I know crickets are eaten in Southeast Asia.

      Ants seem too tiny to try to eat, but a Google search reveals they are eaten in South America and Southeast Asia.

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