Krill PhotographsPhotos of Thysanoessa spiniferaSee all Thysanoessa spinifera photos See also: Blue Whales Eat Krill |
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| Krill, Baja California (Pacific Ocean), Thysanoessa spinifera, Image 03117 | A blue whale eating krill. This blue whale is seen feeding and surfacing amid krill with engorged throat full of krill. Aerial photo, Baja California, Balaenoptera musculus, Image 05837 | Brown pelicans feeding on krill, Pelecanus occidentalis, Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado), Image 03170 |
| This specimen of Thysanoessa spinifera, one of the euphausiids commonly known as krill, measured about one-half inch long. It was photographed alive after being collected from a cloud of krill observed at the ocean surface near Islas Coronado (Mexico) in July 1999. Blue whales were in the area and surface feeding on other large krill swarms throughout the day. The center photograph depicts one of these blue whales with its throat engorged after taking a mouthful of water. It will push the water back out of its mouth with its tongue, trapping the krill among its many plates of baleen. Such feeding is sometimes seen in Baja California and northward along California's coast to Oregon. Large flocks of pelicans and gulls were also surface feeding on the krill (see image below). According to Jaime Gomez Gutierrez of Oregon State University, who provided the identification, Thysanoessa spinifera is characterized by its large rostrum, bilobulate eyes, and two prominent spines in the fourth and fifth abdominal segment. It lives in coastal waters associated with cool upwelling waters. Along with Euphausia pacifica (no rostrum, spherical eye, no spines in the abdomen and a prominent spine in the lateral part of the caparace), Thysanoessa spinifera is the most important food item of the blue whale because of their relatively large size (adults to 1.5 - 3 cm) and their presence in huge swarms. | ||
| Keywords: krill photo, Thysanoessa spinifera, whale krill, whale food, krill photos, photography, photograph, underwater | ||
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