Shrimps, crabs, lobsters and crayfishes all belong to a group of animals named as the decapod crustaceans. They occur worldwide and are of great scientific interests as well as ecological and commercial importance in fisheries and aquaculture. However, our knowledge on their biology mainly comes from the closely related group of crustaceans – the insects. Here we produce a de novo transcriptome database spanning multiple tissues and life stages of seven crustaceans.