Respiration System
Most large malacostracans respire through gills, which develop as vascularized outgrowths of the first segment of the thoracic legs (epipodal gills). The gills of decapods are in a branchial chamber beneath the carapace, and oxygenated water is funneled through them. The lining of the chamber itself may be soft and vascularized for respiration, as in mysids, thermosbaenaceans, hemicarideans, and peneid shrimps.