Krill or Euphausiid shrimp superficially resemble decapod shrimp, but they lack maxillipeds, and carry their thoracic gills outside the carapace, giving them a feathery appearance (Tudge, 2000). Most krill feed on phytoplankton and many are filter feeders. A few species are known to hunt copepods and other zooplankton (Saether, 1986)
They form an important link in the marine food chain. They occur in huge numbers throughout the global oceans and link the algae and zooplankton they feed on to the many larger predators including baleen whales (Tudge, 2000).
- Saether, O., Trond Erling Ellingsen & Viggo Mohr (1986). "Lipids of North Atlantic krill" (PDF). Journal of Lipid Research 27 (3): 274–285
- Tudge, C. The Variety of Life: A survey and celebration of all the creatures that have ever lived. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford, United Kingdom.
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Bob Corrigan commented on an older version of Brief Summary:
If you were going to have the first 150-200 characters of this description used as a "blurb", how would you change it?
