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
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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)
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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)