Are krill charismatic, in human eyes? Should they be? What bodes this? Those questions are addressed in the study:
“Charismatic Krill? Size and Conservation in the Ocean,” Elizabeth Leane and Steve Nicol, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 24, Number 2, June 2011 , pp. 135-146(12). The authors explain:
“Using Antarctic krill Euphausia superba as an example, we suggest that the perception amongst both scientists and the general public of krill’s small size, passivity, and lack of individuality has led to their being treated less like animals themselves than as background habitat for other animals. Because krill have such a central role in the Antarctic ecosystem and are the subject of a large fishery, these assumptions may have serious consequences for krill themselves and the conservation of the Antarctic region as a whole.”