Test Your Knowledge on Krill
Find out how much you know about the centerpiece of the Antarctic food web
The total weight of all Antarctic krill—a tiny yet mighty zooplankton--is greater than the cumulative weight of any other animal species on the planet except for humans. Krill provide 96% of the calories for seabirds and mammals in the Antarctic Peninsula, and the krill fishery is the largest in Antarctica, providing roughly 450,000 metric tons in 2020 alone.
But climate change and concentrated fishing are threatening krill, causing range shifts and reducing their availability to predators such as penguins. Despite their diminutive size (they top out at 2.5 inches long), the web of life in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean would collapse without them.
So, in celebration of the first World Krill Day, let’s test your knowledge of this vital species and find out what type of a krill connoisseur you are.
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- Are Antarctic krill extroverts or introverts?
Ulrich Freier/Australian Antarctic Division - Extroverts
- Introverts
Extroverts. Antarctic krill love a good party. They live among swarms that can contain as many as 30 trillion of their buddies and can stretch several miles. Some swarms are so large, they’ve been seen from space!
- True or false? Krill can glow.
pilipenkoD/Getty Images - True
- False
Bioluminescent organs in their bodies allow krill to produce light. Scientists think the glow could possibly be used to communicate with other krill or to confuse predators.
- What other superpower do Antarctic krill have?
John Lawrence/Australian Antarctic Division - They can shrink
- They can become invisible.
- Isn’t glowing enough?
Antarctic krill can shrink their bodies to survive when food is scarce during the winter. Studies have shown that they can go 200 days without food, using protein from their bodies to sustain themselves.
- True or false? Krill is just a fancy name for shrimp
Rob King/Australian Antarctic Division - True
- False
Although both krill and shrimp are decapod crustaceans—meaning they have 10 feet—krill have a pink-hued body with three segments and a mostly transparent exoskeleton, while shrimp have two body segments and a pinkish brown color.
- What species eat krill?
Mint Images/ Art Wolfe/ Getty Images - Seals
- Whales
- Seabirds
- Fish
- Humans
- Squid
- All of the above
Krill is a dietary staple in Antarctica for seals, whales, seabirds, fish, and squid. More than 25% of species in the Antarctic rely on krill for food—and those that don’t consume another species that does. Krill are also the most fished species in the Southern Ocean and are used by humans in nutraceutical pills, and for animal feed, including in aquaculture. Research has shown that in the Antarctic Peninsula, localized overfishing of krill near predator foraging areas reduces the available food for those predators, and negatively affects nesting and foraging penguins.
- How long do krill live?
Peter Harmsen/Australian Antarctic Division - 90 days
- 2 to 3 years
- 5 to 10 years
- 25 years
Antarctic krill live for up to 10 years, with an average lifespan of six to seven years.
- Which seal has special teeth adapted for eating krill?
Johnny Giese/Shutterstock - Crabeater seals
- Bearded seals
- Weddell seals
- Elephant seals
Crabeater seals have special teeth that help them filter krill from the water. They can feed for 10 hours per night. Crabeaters are found farther inland than any other Antarctic seal species and are the fastest pinniped on ice.
- How do krill remove carbon from the atmosphere?
Peter Harmsen/Australian Antarctic Division - Through photosynthesis
- By glowing
- By eating organisms containing carbon and producing waste
Near the ocean’s surface, krill eat microscopic ocean plants that absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Then krill poop out the carbon and it sinks quickly to the bottom of the ocean. Any leftover carbon inside of the body of krill transfers to other marine life that eat them. After death, sea life also settles at the bottom of the ocean, thus returning more carbon to the bottom of the sea. Scientific studies have shown it is possible for krill to remove up to 12 billion metric tons of carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere annually.
- True or false? Krill have strong spines.
Peter Harmsen/Australian Antarctic Division - True
- False
Although krill may be the backbone of the Antarctic food supply, they are invertebrates so they don’t have spines.
{passfail} Thanks for testing your krill knowledge! You got {score} out of {total_questions}.
If you got zero questions correct, you are a polar bear
This is a species that has never eaten Antarctic krill in the wild because … polar bears live in the Arctic, not the Antarctic!
Both polar regions are among the fastest warming places on Earth. At the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) this October, 25 countries and the European Union will consider new measures for ecosystem-based fisheries management. These measures are science-informed and designed to improve protection for krill predators by moving catch away from sensitive coastal areas where predators feed. In addition, CCAMLR is considering proposals for three large-scale marine protected areas in the East Antarctic, Weddell Sea, and Antarctic Peninsula. These protected areas would provide resilience against climate change for krill and their predators.
4|If you answered between one and four questions correctly, you are a penguin.
Consumption varies depending on species, but emperor penguins can eat up to 6 kilograms (a little more than 13 pounds) of krill a day! Research shows that penguin populations in the Antarctic Peninsula experience negative impacts from concentrated fishing and climate change.
At the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) this October, 25 countries and the European Union will consider new measures for ecosystem-based fisheries management. These measures are informed by the latest science and designed to improve protection for krill predators such as penguins by moving catch away from sensitive coastal areas where predators feed. In addition, CCAMLR is considering proposals for three large-scale marine protected areas in the East Antarctic, Weddell Sea, and Antarctic Peninsula. These protected areas would provide resilience against climate change for krill and their predators.
8|If you answered between five and eight questions correctly, you are a crabeater seal.
The specialized teeth that crabeater seals have help them consume nearly 20 kilograms (just over 44 pounds) of krill per day. Their name originates from the German word ‘krebs,' which covers crustacean species including crabs and krill.
At the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) this October, 25 countries and the European Union will consider new measures for ecosystem-based fisheries management. These measures are informed by the latest science and designed to improve protection for krill predators such as crabeater seals by moving catch away from sensitive coastal areas where predators feed. In addition, CCAMLR is considering proposals for three large-scale marine protected areas in the East Antarctic, Weddell Sea, and Antarctic Peninsula. These protected areas would provide resilience against climate change for krill and their predators.
9|If you answered all 9 questions correctly, you are the biggest krill connoisseur: a blue whale.
Blue whales, which are the largest mammals on Earth, can eat up to 4 tons (over 8,800 punds) of krill EVERY DAY! Many whale species are recovering in the Antarctic after being overexploited for centuries and these growing populations are hungry for krill.
At the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) this October, 25 countries and the European Union will consider new measures for ecosystem-based fisheries management. These measures are informed by the latest science and designed to improve protection for krill predators such as the blue whale by moving catch away from sensitive coastal areas where predators feed. In addition, CCAMLR is considering proposals for three large-scale marine protected areas in the East Antarctic, Weddell Sea, and Antarctic Peninsula. These protected areas would provide resilience against climate change for krill and their predators.
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