Antarctic Krill Swarm — South Georgia
The Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) swarms in the waters around South Georgia — surface aggregations of krill so dense that the sea surface turns orange-red in the visual wavelength — are the ecological foundation of the entire Southern Ocean food web: feeding the blue whale (eating 3 tonnes per day), the Antarctic minke whale, the macaroni penguin, the krill-eating crabeater seal, and the Antarctic fur seal simultaneously. At South Georgia, krill swarms are visible from expedition ship decks as orange-coloured patches extending hundreds of metres, and the convergence of 18 whale species, 100 million penguins, and 30 million seals on the island's krill productivity creates the world's most concentrated marine wildlife system. The krill swarm's individual animals (6 centimetres, 1 gram) and their role as the world's largest biomass of any multi-cellular animal (500 million tonnes in the Southern Ocean) give each surface observation a dimension of ecological scale unavailable anywhere else in the ocean.
About this spectacle
Standing on the deck of an expedition vessel somewhere in South Georgia's fjord-choked waters, you scan the surface until a broad orange-red stain materialises across the swells — a krill aggregation stretching hundreds of metres, the sea itself seemingly ablaze with countless six-centimetre crustaceans packed shoulder to shoulder. The smell is briny and sharp, and around the swarm the ocean erupts: minke whales lunge through the orange mass, fur seals porpoise along its edges, macaroni penguins rocket upward through the school, and occasionally the mottled grey-blue of a blue whale's back rolls through, its open throat engulfing tonnes of krill in a single pass. Seabirds wheel overhead — wandering albatrosses, cape petrels, prions — each drawn to the same biological magnet. The silence between whale blows makes the scale feel even larger. This is not a single charismatic species on display but an entire ocean food web made briefly, almost shockingly, visible at the surface.
When to go
Nov — Apr, peak Dec — Mar
Getting there
Nearest city: Stanley.
Booking options
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