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It is ironic that Euphausia superba might be suffering as a result of Global Warming. They need pack-ice to help them survive the winter (they hide away from predators there and scrape algae off the underside), but as the planet warms up there is less and less pack-ice. The irony is that one of the animals most useful in reducing levels of Carbon Dioxide is itself suffering from Global Warming caused by increasing levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. This could prove to be very serious [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and more research is urgently needed.
Euphausia superba is adapted to filter minute phytoplankton directly from the water. Each year the spring brings vast quantities of nutrients up from the deep and the light allows the diatoms (and other phytoplankton) to flourish. Because Antarctic Krill can take advantage of these algal ‘blooms’ directly (rather than through a longer food-chain) Krill numbers can become phenomenal. Fortunately they are also rather ‘messy’ eaters, and it is thought that they play an important part in regulating the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere.
Why Antarctic Krill Are Successful
Locking-up Carbon Dioxide
Many species of Euphausid (an order of crustaceans, closely related to the shrimps and prawns) are known as ‘Krill’. The most famous of all has to be Euphausia superba, the Antarctic Krill [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], one of the most numerous animals on earth. They occur in huge swarms with up to 30,000 individuals in a cubic metre of water [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and feed some of the largest whales (as well as many other Antarctic predators).
Other articles by John Blatchford
Just as Krill are adapted to feed on minute plants most Baleen Whales are adapted to feed on (relatively) small animals. It is bizarre that the largest animal on earth (the Blue Whale) is only one step in the food-chain away from some of the smallest plants on the planet. Blue Whales eat Krill, and Krill eat Diatoms. The whales have found an incredibly productive food-source which has the convenient habit of living in dense swarms, and the Krill have specialised in feeding directly on the phytoplankton that is at the very base of the food-chain.
When Antarctic Krill eat phytoplankton they usually waste a lot – they produce ‘spit-balls’ of uneaten diatoms and faecal pellets containing diatom shells. This undigested material is heavier than water and sinks to the ocean floor, ‘locking-up’ the carbon-based materials for 1,000 years. (The phytoplankton made these materials from Carbon Dioxide and so this process effectively lowers the Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere.)
Read on
The Largest Whale
US Federal Ban on Krill Fishing in Pacific
A Changing Climate Means a Changing Environment
Antarctic Krill and the Blue Whale
Antarctic Krill and Global Warming