Celebrating World Krill Day

11 August 2024

Did you know that Antarctic krill do a special “pair dance” when they mate, which lasts about 10 seconds?

Back in 2011, Australian Antarctic Division krill researchers unexpectedly captured the first evidence of a krill's sex life when they sent a deep-sea video camera more than 500 metres below the Southern Ocean’s surface.

Senior krill biologist, Dr So Kawaguchi, said that after trawling through hours of video he noticed “a frenzied twirling of three krill, which turned out to be two males pursuing one female”.

Learning about krill

The discovery enabled him to identify five distinct stages in the mating ritual – chase, probe, embrace, flex, push.

Teaming up with visual artist Lisa Roberts the pair developed an animation and illustrations of the ‘dance’, which were published in the Journal of Plankton Research.

The finding is one of many important discoveries Australian Antarctic Program scientists have made on this ‘keystone’ Southern Ocean species, which convert energy from the sun (via microscopic, single-celled floating plants, called phytoplankton) into food for fish, seabirds, seals and whales.

On World Krill Day we’re celebrating the big role these tiny crustaceans play in the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

In fact, we think they’re so important that the Australian Antarctic Division has a world-leading aquarium dedicated to caring for and studying krill. This aquarium will soon be upgraded and expanded to support research on krill and other marine organisms into the future.

The new aquarium will also accommodate the large numbers of wild krill that can now be caught in pristine condition thanks to the revolutionary capability of our Antarctic research vessel RSV Nuyina.

Our scientists conduct research on krill biology, physiology, ecology, behaviour, and genetics, and the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on different life stages.

This research informs the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to ensure sustainable management of krill populations and the krill fishery around Antarctica.

Check out some of our videos, stories and educational resources about Antarctic krill in the links below – and enjoy World Krill Day!

Videos

RSV Nuyina’s ‘wet well’ has revolutionised the capture of live Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean
Measuring krill from all angles - Australian Antarctic Program scientists used a range of novel technologies to measure krill, during a ground-breaking voyage to the Southern Ocean in 2021
Dr So Kawaguchi describes how he got into krill research and why he loves krill
‘KOMBIs’ spying on Antarctic krill – learning more about the winter movements of Antarctic krill

Interactive feature