Crustacean · krill

Antarctic krill

Euphausia superba

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

Mostly near the surface, observed down to about 3,000 m

Size

About 6 cm, a little over 1 g

Diet

Phytoplankton, algae under the ice, seafloor debris in winter

Zone

Sunlit zone · 0 – 200 m

Key facts

• Its swarms can contain up to 30,000 krill per cubic meter.
• There are estimated to be about 400 million tonnes of it in the Southern Ocean.
• When starving, it can shrink and survive more than 200 days without eating.
• A robot filmed adult krill feeding near the seafloor, at around 3,000 m.

Verified sources

1. Australian Antarctic Division : Krill
2. ScienceDaily (British Antarctic Survey / NOC) : krill découvert dans les abysses antarctiques
3. Suzuki et al. 2022, photophores du krill antarctique (Kanagawa University)

In the game: Prey: +2 points

In the same zone

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