Antarctic krill: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Antarctic krill lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Euphausia superba
Group	Crabs, lobsters & shrimps
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Antarctica
Class	Crustacean
Order	Euphausiacea
Family	Euphausiidae

Where does the Antarctic krill live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Antarctic krill in 2 countries and territories across Antarctica. Wikidata gives its range as: Antarctica.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Antarctic krill endangered?

The Antarctic krill’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Antarctic krill?

The Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a crustacean in the order Euphausiacea and the family Euphausiidae, genus Euphausia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Antarctic krill

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. It feeds directly on minute phytoplankton, thereby using the primary production energy that phytoplankton originally derive from the sun in order to sustain its pelagic life cycle. It grows to a length of 6 centimetres (2.4 in), weighs up to 2 grams (0.071 oz), and can live for up to six years. A key species in the Antarctic ecosystem and in terms of biomass, E. superba is one of the most abundant animal species on the planet, with a cumulative biomass of approximately 500 million metric tons (550 million short tons; 490 million long tons); however, the species is suffering from overfishing.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Antarctic krill (revision 1381015184), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q571443 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).