Trait CollectionLineage & Anatomy

Invertebrate

Animals lacking a backbone or spinal column, representing over 95 percent of all animal species on Earth.

29 creatures with this trait · page 2 of 2

A spiny crab that can reach 24 pounds and a 5-foot leg span, and can only grow by shedding its shell.

A sediment-swallowing sea cucumber that is one of the highest-valued species in the bêche-de-mer trade.

A plague-resistant crayfish brought to Europe to supplement stocks the plague decimated, and a carrier of the disease itself.

Eight-legged micro-survivor that meets a dose of gamma rays by rapidly switching on many of its own DNA-repair genes.

A mostly see-through pond crustacean whose 200-megabase genome holds at least 30,907 genes.