0 very small animals with a hard outer shell that live in the sea and are eaten in large numbers by some types of whale
Today krill is consumed by an increased abundance of smaller whales (minkes), seals (notably the crabeater seal) and seabirds (notably several penguin species), plus humans.
As krill is the primary prey of crabeater seals, its geographic availability is probably the key factor affecting seal distribution during the non-breeding season.
The distributions of peak areas of phytoplankton biomass and krill were patchy.
Terrestrial ecosystems have few equivalents of schooling or aggregating marine species such as krill, forage fish, and squid, which support vast suites of large predators.
But the upwelling, with all it means to krill productivity and dependent communities, could be significantly disrupted.
Mysticetes have baleen plates that act like a giant filter, straining small animals (such as plankton and krill) from the seawater.
In the year 1900 the great whales were probably consuming 190 million tonnes of krill per year, but today they are estimated to account for only 40 million tonnes.
The discussion of effects of the variability of sea ice and teleconnections on krill, black guillemot, penguin, and polar bear populations will be of interest to all polar scientists.
