Page 112 - (DK) Super Shark Encyclopedia: And Other Creatures of the Deep

STUPENDOUS

SWARM

ANTARCTIC KRILL

Try to imagine a crowd of animals with a thousand
times more individuals than there are people in the
whole world. Shrimplike krill swim in the open ocean
and get together in colossal swarms that are the biggest
on the planet. Each krill catches tiny morsels of food with
its feathery legs. The huge weight of a tightly packed
swarm of krill is, in turn, food for many bigger animals
including fish, whales, seals, and penguins.

AT A GLANCE

• SIZE Up to 2 ⁄2 in (6.5 cm) long
1
• HABITAT Cold open ocean
• LOCATION Southern Ocean; most abundant
around the Antarctic continent and islands
• DIET Green plankton, such
as microscopic algae

STATS AND FACTS

KRILL IN A SWARM
30,000 per 35 cu ft
(30,000 per cu m) The biggest and
densest swarms of
krill are made up of
0 15,000 30,000 45,000 younger, more buoyant
individuals. Mature
krill need more room
TOTAL WEIGHT and live in scattered
million swarms that are
tons 200 400 600 one-tenth as large.
million 200 400 600
tonnes
550 million tons/500 million
tonnes (in Southern Ocean)
SWIMMING DEPTH
655 ft/200 m (usual)
ft 500 1,000 1,500
EGGS LAID AT A TIME
m 300 600
1,575 ft/480 m (max.)
10,000

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