Crustacean
A large group of arthropods including crabs, lobsters, shrimp, barnacles, and copepods, typically having a hard exoskeleton and two pairs of antennae.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 2 chapters:
"Mouth agape. Gills flared. Fighting every predatory instinct. The wrasse picks parasites from between teeth designed to crush crustaceans. One twitch of the grouper's jaw would mean death. But the grouper holds still. The service is worth more than the snack."
"... was won through visual signaling alone. The mantis shrimp's display exploits one of nature's most sophisticated visual communication systems. These crustaceans possess sixteen color receptors (humans have three), allowing them to see polarized light and distinguish colors invisible to almost every other anim..."
Biological Context
Crustaceans must molt to grow, periodically shedding their exoskeleton and growing a new larger one. During molting, they are extremely vulnerable. This growth-through-vulnerability cycle is fundamental to crustacean life history and creates predictable periods of weakness.
Business Application
Organizations also grow through molting—shedding old structures (reorgs, pivots) to enable new growth. Like crustaceans, companies are vulnerable during transitions. Timing organizational molts and managing the vulnerable transition period is a key leadership skill.