Marine Life Antarctic Krill

Photography/Han Han

(Look at the krill up close, they look so cute!)

Antarctic krill, the English name is Antartic Krill, antarctic means Antarctic, krill means krill, and its scientific name is Euphausia superba.

It is about 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long, weighs up to 2 grams (0.071 ounces), can live for up to 6 years, and is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem, in terms of biomass, scientists believe It is one of the most abundant animal species on Earth (about 500 million tons, equivalent to 300 to 400 trillion people).

This species feeds primarily on phytoplankton, especially very small diatoms. Because its intestine is in a straight tube state, its digestion efficiency is not very high, and there is still a large amount of carbon and glass-shelled diatoms in its feces. Both are heavy and sink into the abyss very quickly. This process is called a biological pump.

Krill are thought to undergo a daily vertical migration from mixed surface water to a depth of 100 meters. In this process, krill can sequester large amounts of carbon (fixed carbon dioxide) on the seafloor for approximately 1,000 years by spitting out aggregates of phytoplankton (vomit balls) and defecating.

According to statistics, high-latitude oceans can absorb 30-50 grams of carbon from the atmosphere per square meter per year and convert it into biomass. If you multiply this by the huge ocean area, the Antarctic ocean plays an even greater role in sequestering carbon in the carbon cycle than tropical rainforests.

So Antarctic krill are vital to the entire planet.