What Do Krill Eat? - Kylon Powell

Find Out What Krill Eat

Krill are a food source of many marine creatures including whales, having a significant role in the ecosystem. These semi-translucent crustaceans float in the surface level of oceans, especially Antarctica.

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At first glance, krill might be mistaken as a shrimp because of its appearance similar to a shrimp. However, krill tend to be smaller than shrimp because they’re measured in centimeters.

Plus, krill are usually translucent and shrimps, on the other hand, colorful. Surprisingly, krill can also shrink in size in the case of starvation.

Another great fact about krill is their ability to illuminate when fed by whales. Typically, their diet consists of singular celled organisms – specifically plant-based microscopic organisms. To gain more insight on, “What do krill eat?” we’ll break down their diet into different parts.

Insects and Animals

These small creatures float around the surface of oceans, lurking in the food search. Krill would cruise in swarms at night for feeding purposes to filter out the aquatic diet.

These are filter feeders and consume single-celled organisms, particularly plants. Hence, Krill don’t eat insects, fishes, or other aquatic creatures including the small aquatic creatures. Also,  krill don’t eat their kin or babies of other organisms, no matter how small. As for the insects, krill aren’t insectivores. Rather, they are omnivores.

Fruit, Vegetables, and Plants

Oceans offer plenty of food sources to accommodate various aquatic creatures. This helps the ecosystem to function as the food cycle continues, providing a diet in abundance. Fortunately, krill helps the ecosystem by feeding on small plants that make up the healthy diet for krill. And, predators like penguins and whales feed on a ton of krill to grow and survive. Just like other species, krill have a favorite plant-based diet – especially which grows in water.

Hence, krill eat plankton, lichen, zooplankton, diatoms, phytoplankton, algae, and dinoflagellates. All of these are consumed by krill to produce energy that’s transferred once krill are consumed by other organisms. Even the ice provides a great source of food for krill in the wintertime. Hence, krill travel to the surface beneath the ice and feed on algae growing near ice.

What krill don’t eat?

For the most part, krill are dependent on consuming various algae and other plant-based diets that grow in the ocean. There are, however, some foods that aren’t edible for krill. Hence, krill would rather avoid feeding on such a diet that isn’t listed on their menu!

Krill don’t eat fish, bacteria, clams, kelp, shrimp, and sea stars. While there might be single-celled bacteria and other organisms, the diet of krill doesn’t include them. Besides, krill don’t eat seaweed, seagrass, coral, purple saxifrage, kelp, and fungi. These are the types of algae that grow in the water, but these aren’t consumed by krill. Other than that, krill don’t eat squids, shark, and krills. You wouldn’t see a krill, the size of a paper clip, capturing a large creature like squids and sharks.

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