Poles & OceansLeast concern
Antarctic krill
Euphausia superba
A small shrimp-like animal that swarms in the Southern Ocean in enormous numbers.
- Weight
- About 2 g
- Size
- About 6 cm long
- Lifespan
- Up to 6 years
- Top speed
- Swims in huge swarms
- Diet
- Tiny algae
How heavy is that?
So light that a 40 kg kid weighs as much as 20,000 of them
Where it lives
Three things to know
- All Antarctic krill together may weigh about as much as all the people on Earth.
- Whales, penguins, seals and fish all depend on it.
- It glows: it has tiny lights on its body.
Compare with…
- Weight
- Antarctic krill2 gA 10-year-old kid40 kgThe kid weighs about 20,000× as much as Antarctic krill
- Size
- Antarctic krill6 cmA 10-year-old kid1.4 mThe kid is about 23× as big as Antarctic krill
- Top speed
- Antarctic krill—A 10-year-old kid20 km/hToo slow to time
- Lifespan
- Antarctic krill6 yrsA 10-year-old kid80 yrsThe kid can live about 13× as long as Antarctic krill
