Antarctic krill facts and discoveries for children and parents
Kaleido notices the little things. A shape, a movement or a detail that others overlook can become the start of a discovery. His real-life relatives reward a closer look too.
Join Kaleido to explore Antarctic krill: small ocean animals with see-through bodies, busy swimming movements and surprising ways of growing. Then get out your ruler and pencils for a family discovery challenge.
Kaleido is our fictional Antarctic krill, with his own appearance and personality. This resource explores the real animal that inspires him. His miniature making and careful observations belong to his character; wild krill have lives of their own.
Meet the real Antarctic krill
Scientific name: Euphausia superba
Animal group: A crustacean: part of the wider group that includes prawns, crabs and lobsters. Krill are not fish. [1]
Size: Adults can reach about 6 centimetres long. Individuals vary in size. [1]
Home: The Southern Ocean around Antarctica. [1]
Look for: A mostly transparent body, reddish pigment, large black eyes, body segments and a fan-shaped tail. [1, 3]
On the menu: Microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton are an important food. Krill also eat other tiny organisms; their diet changes with conditions. [1]
Small does not mean simple
A close photograph can reveal details that disappear in a picture of a whole swarm. Sometimes the digestive tract looks green because of what a krill has eaten. What seems like a tiny speck from a distance can become a whole animal to investigate. [1]
Talk together: What could you discover by looking more closely at something small?
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Swimming swarms and surprising light
Watch the movement
Krill swim together in groups called swarms. In observations of schooling krill, scientists have seen animals holding their bodies almost horizontally and travelling in the same direction. Their movements differ when feeding. [2]
A swarm is not a solid shape. It consists of many individual animals moving through water. Researchers use cameras to investigate how krill join groups and move in relation to their neighbours. [3]
Look closely: In a krill video, choose one animal to follow for a few seconds. Does it keep the same direction? Can you still find it when the group moves?
A flick of the tail
Scientists filming wild krill have observed a rapid tail-flick escape movement. Some animals flicked away from the camera equipment before returning to the swarm. This is a useful reminder that the way we observe wildlife can affect what it does. [3]
A word to discover: An observation records what you can see or measure. An explanation suggests why it happened. Scientists test explanations against evidence.
Can krill really make light?
Yes. Antarctic krill can produce points of blue light through bioluminescence. That word means light made by a living organism. Scientists think the light may help krill signal to neighbours or keep together, but its purpose is still being investigated. [4]
Ask your child: If you wanted to investigate when krill make light, what would you need to observe?
How do we find animals in a huge ocean?
Researchers can use sound to locate swarms, then cameras to study the animals in more detail. In one project, a camera frame drifted through a swarm after the research ship moved away. Different tools helped answer different questions. [3]
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Growing through a changing ocean
From egg to adult
Antarctic krill begin life as eggs released into the water. The eggs sink before hatching, and the young larvae make their way upwards. They pass through several stages as they develop towards adulthood. [1]
Scientists have raised krill from eggs to adults in an aquarium. Watching the process over time helps reveal changes that a single photograph cannot show. [2]
A word to discover: A larva is an early stage in an animal’s life. “Larvae” means more than one.
An outer covering to replace
Krill have an exoskeleton: a supporting outer covering. They shed and replace it in a process called moulting. Repeated moults are part of life as they grow and change. [2]
Growth is not always a steady journey towards a larger body. When food is scarce, krill can shrink. Scientists therefore cannot reliably work out a krill’s age from its length alone. [2, 5]
Talk together: Why might measuring an animal once tell us less than measuring it repeatedly?
Life near sea ice
Sea ice is frozen seawater. Algae can grow on its underside, providing food for krill. Young krill can use the ice environment as a place to feed and shelter. [1, 4, 6]
The story varies between places and seasons. Scientists are still investigating how different groups of young krill survive winter, including the roles of ice and open water. Different krill can experience different winter conditions. [4]
Questions worth keeping
Where will a swarm move next? How do neighbours influence one another? How do changing conditions affect young krill? Researchers are still exploring these questions. A small animal can leave us with very big things to wonder about. [3, 4]
Try a discovery notebook: Write “We know”, “We noticed” and “We still wonder”. Keep facts, observations and questions in separate entries so you can return to them later.
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Try Kaleido’s look-closer challenge
A small animal and a bigger drawing
You will need a ruler marked in centimetres, paper, pencils and a clear photograph of an Antarctic krill. The sources below offer a starting point. Allow ten to fifteen minutes.
1. Measure a line 6 centimetres long. This represents the approximate upper adult length in our fact file, not the size of every krill or an official measurement of Kaleido.
2. Look at your line. Find a safe everyday object nearby that is shorter, and one that is longer. Measure them to check your predictions.
3. Draw a second line 18 centimetres long. It is three times the length of the first. Use it as a guide for an enlarged drawing of the real animal in your photograph.
4. Look for the eyes, body segments and tail fan. Add only the details you can see. If part of the animal is hidden, label it “not visible” rather than guessing.
5. Add three labels and one question. What did the enlarged drawing help you notice? What would another photograph or a video help you investigate?
Your drawing is an observation aid. It need not be a perfect scientific illustration. The aim is to slow down and notice details.
For younger children: An adult can measure the two lines. Let your child point to the eyes and tail in the photograph, then add them to a large drawing.
For older children: Record the scale as “3 times life size”, using the 6-centimetre example. Explain that the animal in your reference photograph may be a different length. A picture needs a scale bar or other reliable information before we can measure its real subject.
Make a paper swarm
Draw several simple krill shapes on small pieces of paper. Place them close together, then spread them out. Try pointing them in one direction and then in different directions. Which arrangements make it easiest to follow one individual?
This is a model for exploring position and direction. Paper shapes cannot tell us why real krill move, sense their neighbours or form swarms. For those questions, return to wildlife observations.
Share one discovery
Ask everyone to finish the sentence: “At first I noticed … but when I looked closer …”. Kaleido’s interest in small details offers a lovely starting point for looking carefully at the real world.
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Small animals in a connected ocean
A place in the wider picture
Krill eat tiny organisms and are themselves food for many Antarctic animals. This makes them an important link in the ocean’s food web. Feeding is one part of their lives, alongside swimming, growing and reproducing. [1]
They also help move carbon through the ocean. After krill feed near the surface, their sinking droppings can carry carbon into deeper water. Scientists study this process to understand the ocean’s carbon cycle. [7]
Caring about their home
Sea ice, food and ocean conditions shape the lives of Antarctic krill. Changes in these conditions can affect where and how they live. Long-term observations help scientists understand the differences between seasons, regions and years. [4, 6]
Families can start by learning about the Southern Ocean, asking where information comes from and sharing discoveries. Children do not need to solve every environmental problem to become thoughtful observers of nature.
Quick questions from curious children
Are krill fish? No. They are crustaceans, with an outer skeleton. Fish belong to a different animal group. [1, 2]
Are all krill the same species? No. “Krill” describes a group of related animals. This page focuses on Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. [1]
Can krill get smaller? Yes. Krill can shrink when food is scarce. Their length does not give a simple answer to their age. [2, 5]
Does every swarm move in the same way? No. Observations show different movements during schooling and feeding. Scientists continue to investigate group behaviour. [2, 3]
A note for parents and carers
Our stories imagine friendships between animals. These resources explore their real lives. If your child notices a difference, you can explain that stories and nature follow different rules, while keeping the answer simple and factual.
Keep exploring with Kaleido
Next time Kaleido spots a small detail in a story, ask what you might notice in a real krill photograph. An eye, a segment or a flick of the tail can become the beginning of another discovery.
Meet Kaleido in the Krillbee and Friends character collection
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Sources and further discoveries
Factual review: 20 October 2026. Numbers in the resource refer to the sources below. These links offer further reading for adults and shared exploration; preview them before sharing with younger children.
[1] Australian Antarctic Program — Antarctic krill
[2] Australian Antarctic Program — What have we learnt about krill?
[3] Australian Antarctic Program — Swimming with krill
[4] British Antarctic Survey — Small but mighty: the Antarctic krill that feed a whole ocean
[5] Australian Antarctic Program — Adapting to the cold
[6] Australian Antarctic Program — Sea ice
Where to begin together
Start with the Antarctic krill fact page and a clear photograph. For movement and research, explore Swimming with krill. The longer research articles are useful for adults who want more detail after a child asks a question.
What we know and what we are investigating
Krill produce light, but explanations for its role remain under investigation. Their winter lives vary, and new research continues to refine our understanding of sea ice and survival. The page keeps those uncertainties visible instead of presenting a single explanation as settled fact.
The carbon-cycle section describes sinking droppings briefly. The linked research article offers the evidence and context for adults who wish to explore further.