page_title: King penguin
section_title: Diet
hierarchical_section_title: King penguin / Ecology and behavior / Diet
caption_attribution_description: English: King penguin, Fortuna Bay, South Georgia
context_page_description: The king penguin is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean and at Macquarie Island.
  King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid and krill. On foraging trips king penguins repeatedly dive to over 100 metres, and have been recorded at depths greater than 300 metres.
  King penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region.
context_section_description: King penguins eat various species  of small fish, squid, and krill. Fish constitute roughly 80% of their diet, except in winter months of July and August, when they make up only around 30%. Lanternfish are the main fish taken, principally the species Electrona carlsbergi and Krefftichthys anderssoni, as well as Protomyctophum tenisoni. Slender escolar (Paradiplospinus gracilis) of the Gempylidae, and Champsocephalus gunneri, is also consumed. Cephalopods consumed include those of the genus Moroteuthis, the hooked squid or Kondakovia longimana, the sevenstar flying squid (Martialia hyadesii), young Gonatus antarcticus and Onychoteuthis species.
caption: King penguin moulting, with pin feathers visible
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5792", "Image ImageLength": "7800", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5DS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2016:01:25 00:20:53", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "958", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9555", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:01:10 07:58:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:01:10 07:58:32", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2827819/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5387", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "79080107/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "79080107/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "032021001345", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 300, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "7200006242"}