Big things come in small packages. Biomass contribution of the krill Thysanoessa macrura to the marine ecosystem in the Kerguelen Plateau region

Southern Ocean krill (Thysanoessa macrura) area small and abundant species of krill in the SouthernOcean. It is considered the second most abundantkrill species, with Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)the biomass dominant species in Antarctic waters(Makarov, 1979; Hosie, 1991; Nordhausen, 1992).Euphausia superba is generally found south of the PolarFront, while T. macrura has a range that extends fromthe Antarctic coast to north of the sub-Antarctic front(Kirkwood, 1982; Cuzin-Roudy, et al. 2014). Consequently,T. macrura is likely the second most abundanteuphausiid in the Antarctic, however estimates of itsabundance in the Southern Ocean are largely lacking.Thysanoessa macrura play a vital role in the diet of manyflying seabirds, fish and penguins. In the sub-Antarctic,the dietary contribution of T. macrura outweighs thecontribution of other krill species and forms up to 80%of the diet of some sub-Antarctic bird species (Raymondet al., 2011)