Throw your claws up for Joseph Poupin and Matthieu Juncker, two French crustacean researchers who have not only completed an awesome guide to the decapod crustaceans of the South Pacific, but they’ve also made it available as a free downloadable PDF. If that weren’t enough, the free guide to decapod crustaceans is available in both French and English. The Crustacean Guide by Poupin and Juncker isn’t going to replace Kuiter and Debelius World Atlas of Marine Fauna but it weighs and costs a lot less.
The decapod crustacean guide is also different in that it goes through all the ten-legged crustaceans based on the different habitats where they can be found; from the land crabs, to the beaches, lagoons and the reefs, the authors of Decapod Crustacean Guide do a great job of not just introducing a ton of species, many of which we have never seen, but you can see the continuum of body shapes which has allowed these creatures to live in different habitats. The Guide to Decapod Crustaceans of the South Pacific can be downloaded here and if we crash their servers we’ll be sure to put up some mirror links in the comments. Follow the break for some screenshots of the 300+ pages of this great, free, downloadable book.
