The Antarctic krill is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctic krill are shrimp-like invertebrates that live in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 individual animals per cubic meter. They feed directly on minute phytoplankton, thereby using the primary production energy that the phytoplankton originally derived from the sun in order to sustain their pelagic (open ocean) life cycle. They grow to a length of 6 cm, weigh up to 2 grams, and can live for up to six years. They are the key species in the Antarctic ecosystem and are likely, in terms of biomass, the most successful animal species on the planet.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1815: Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon surrendered to British forces at Rochefort, France, ending the Hundred Days. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)

1945: Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the Potsdam Conference to decide how to administer post-World War II Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)

1975: History of East Timor: East Timor was annexed and became the 27th province of Indonesia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_East_Timor)

1996: Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800)

1998: Biologists reported in the journal Science how they sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treponema_pallidum)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Most of the books, music and movies ever released are not available for sale, anywhere in the world. In the brief time that P2P nets have flourished, the ad-hoc masses of the Internet have managed to put just about everything online. What's more, they've done it far cheaper than any other archiving/revival effort ever." -- Cory Doctorow (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow)