Pacific Krill

Pacific krill is a small, shrimp-like crustacean found in vast swarms across the North Pacific Ocean, from the coast of California north to the Bering Sea and west to Japan. It swims in dense schools that can stretch for considerable distances, forming one of the most important food sources for a wide range of fish, seabirds, and baleen whales across the region. Individuals are typically only a few centimeters long but occur in such enormous numbers that their combined swarms represent a major share of the total animal biomass in the waters they inhabit. The species feeds mainly on phytoplankton, filtering tiny algae from the water column, and in turn transfers that captured energy up the food chain to its many predators. It is harvested commercially, particularly off the coast of Japan, where it is processed for both direct human consumption and as feed in aquaculture operations. Its populations shift seasonally with ocean productivity, tracking the blooms of the phytoplankton it depends on for food.