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Krill belong to the large arthropod subphylum, the Crustacea. The most familiar and largest group of crustaceans, the class Malacostraca, includes the superorder Eucarida comprising the three orders, Euphausiacea (krill), Decapoda (shrimp, prawns, lobsters, crabs), and the planktonic Amphionidacea. The order Euphausiacea comprises two families.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 24 November 2024. Organisms living in water or air that are drifters on the current or wind This article is about the marine organisms. For other uses, see Plankton (disambiguation). Marine microplankton and mesoplankton Part of the contents of one dip of a hand net. The image contains diverse planktonic ...
In particular, the biomass of consumers (copepods, krill, shrimp, forage fish) is larger than the biomass of primary producers. This happens because the ocean's primary producers are tiny phytoplankton which grow and reproduce rapidly, so a small mass can have a fast rate of primary production .
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms , sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 animals per cubic metre. [ 3 ]
Krill feeding in a high phytoplankton concentration (slowed by a factor of 12). Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a specialized filtering organ that sieves out and/or traps solids.
Examples of holoplankton include some diatoms, radiolarians, some dinoflagellates, foraminifera, amphipods, krill, copepods, and salps, as well as some gastropod mollusk species. Holoplankton dwell in the pelagic zone as opposed to the benthic zone. [2] Holoplankton include both phytoplankton and zooplankton and vary in size.
Most marine species are benthic by day but leave the seabed at night to become planktonic. Locomotion is mostly by swimming, the pleopods being used for this purpose. Some mysids live among algae and seagrasses, some are solitary while many form dense swarms. Mysids form an important part of the diet of such fish as shad and flounder. [2]
Krill is a rich source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids which are under development in the early 21st century as human food, dietary supplements as oil capsules, livestock food, and pet food. [10] [11] [12] Most krill is processed to produce fish food for use in aquariums and aquacultures. The krill is sold freeze-dried, either whole or ...