Description

The Meganyctiphanes norvegica species of krill is a macrozooplankton crustacean found in the Northen Atlantic (Unneberg et al., 2024). It is among the largest of the Euphausiid (krill) species, with total body length reaching up to 40 and 50 mm (Tarling et al., 2010). It can tolerate a broader range of temperatures than many other krill species (Huenerlage & Buchholz, 2015), and consequently has a large latitudinal distribution ranging from Barents Sea to the Mediterranean Sea (Tarling et al., 2010; Unneberg et al., 2024).

The wide distribution and thermal tolerance of M. norvegica make it a powerful model to study ecological adaptation to different marine climates and rapid ocean warming. A challenge with genomic analysis of krill species is their huge genome size (19 Gb for M. norvegica) (Choquet et al. 2023; Jeffery, 2012; Unneberg et al., 2024). While most genetic variation appears to be widespread among individuals throughout the range of the species, researchers have also identified many signatures of local genetic adaptations in genes involved in responses to light and temperature (Unneberg et al., 2024). In particular, krill from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea are distinctly different at hundreds of genes. Such genetic variation could be crucial for allowing the krill to adapt to continued climate change and promote reliance of krill populations in a warmer ocean.

How to cite

If you use the data presented in the genome portal from this species in your research, please cite the original publication:

• Unneberg, P., Larsson, M., Olsson, A., Wallerman, O., Petri, A., Bunikis, I., Vinnere Pettersson, O., Papetti, C., Gislason, A., Glenner, H., Cartes, J. E., Blanco-Bercial, L., Eriksen, E., Meyer, B., & Wallberg, A. (2024). Ecological genomics in the Northern krill uncovers loci for local adaptation across ocean basins. Nature Communications, 15(1), 6297. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50239-7

If you have used the pages for this species in the Genome Portal, please refer to it in-text as: “The Meganyctiphanes norvegica entry in the Swedish Reference Genome Portal (access date).” and use the following for the bibliography:

• Swedish Reference Genome Portal (access date), SciLifeLab Data Centre, version (version number) from https://genomes.scilifelab.se, RRID:SCR_026008.

References

• Choquet, M., Lenner, F., Cocco, A., Toullec, G., Corre, E., Toullec, J.-Y., & Wallberg, A. (2023). Comparative Population Transcriptomics Provide New Insight into the Evolutionary History and Adaptive Potential of World Ocean Krill. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 40(11), msad225. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msad225

• Huenerlage K & Buchholz F. (2015). Thermal limits of krill species from the high-Arctic Kongsfjord (Spitsbergen). Marine Ecology Progress Series, 535, 89–98. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11408

• Jeffery, N. W. (2012). The first genome size estimates for six species of krill (Malacostraca, Euphausiidae): Large genomes at the north and south poles. Polar Biology, 35(6), 959–962. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1137-4

• Tarling, G. A., Ensor, N. S., Fregin, T., Goodall-Copestake, W. P., & Fretwell, P. (2010). Chapter One—An Introduction to the Biology of Northern Krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica Sars). In G. A. Tarling (Ed.), Advances in Marine Biology (Vol. 57, pp. 1–40). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-381308-4.00001-7

Contact

For questions about the data, please contact the principal investigator:

• Andreas Wallberg, Uppsala University, andreas.wallberg@imbim.uu.se

Changelog

• 05/11/2024 - Update photo and species description
• 15/10/2024 - Species first published on the Portal