Northern krill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northern krill
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Order: Euphausiacea Family: Euphausiidae Genus: Meganyctiphanes Holt and W. M. Tattersall, 1905 Species: M. norvegica
Binomial name
Meganyctiphanes norvegica (M. Sars, 1856)

Northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica) is a crustacean that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the zooplankton. It is an euphausiid and a very important component of the plankton of the ocean, food for whales, fish and birds. In the Southern Ocean, Antarctic krill Euphausia superba fills a similar role.

Northern krill is the only species of the genus Meganyctiphanes.

The stomach is colored intensly red from carotenoids, an indication that this euphausid feeds on copepods.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Meganyctiphanes

• Meganyctiphanes norvegica (TSN 95533). Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
• Northern krill - Meganyctiphanes norvegica

This crustacean-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.