One might not see krill very often, but this tiny shrimp-like creature can be found in each of the world's five oceans, which means that fish around the world naturally feed on it. Perhaps this is the reason they love the taste so much? Although krill is present in all oceans, they only swim in large swarms around Antarctica in the Southern Ocean.
Biomass is defined as the mass of living biological organisms in a given area. The total weight of the krill biomass is around 500 million metric tons, which is twice the size of the human biomass. That makes krill one of the largest biomasses on earth. Krill swarms are even visible from space!
Read more on krill harvesting and sustainability here.
With such a tremendous biomass, krill is a much sought-after meal for whales, penguins, birds, and fish. To meet this demand, it’s fortunate that the female krill can lay up to 10,000 eggs at a time – sometimes even several times a season.
Krill is defined as a zooplankton. They eat phytoplankton or algae during winter, both of which are at the very bottom of the food chain. All other species in the oceans eat krill or species that feed on krill, which makes krill vital for life.
In the 1960s and up until 1990, the Soviet Army was fed a diet of krill. The former Soviet Union had several boats in the Antarctic Ocean with a sole military purpose: to feed their army. The Soviets knew about the amazing nutritional qualities of krill and how it could meet the high nutritional demands for the soldiers. The krill was canned in small metal boxes, just like sardines, which made them last for a longer period.