Small, shrimp-like marine crustaceans found in every ocean, near the bottom of the food chain. They eat phytoplankton and are the main food of many larger animals.
Quick answers
What is it?Crustacean
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?In places
Harvested as food for people and livestock since at least the 1800s.
At a glance
Found inOceans, Antarctic
HabitatOpen ocean, Polar
ColoursPink, Red, Clear
SizeTiny
LengthUp to 6 cm (Antarctic krill)
Legs10
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives inblooms
Lives for5–10 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- All oceans; the Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean.
- What it eats
- Phytoplankton and some zooplankton.
Did you know
Antarctic krill weigh about 500 million tonnes in total.
The name comes from a Norwegian word meaning “small fry of fish”.
Often confused with
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