"Krill" is Norwegian for "whale food"—an apt name for this essential building block for life in the Southern Ocean. Growing to six centimeters (a little more than an inch) long, and often living in dense swarms several miles wide, the shrimp-like crustacean is crucial to many birds and mammals.

Krill is rich in oil brimming in omega-3 fatty acids that Norwegian and Canadian companies sell in pills. The crustaceans are also harvested for special enzymes that can be used by surgeons to clean wounds, even to clean contact lenses. And the pinkish remains after processing can be used as fish meal, for example to give salmon flesh a richer pink color.

Why does salmon need to be colored pink? Isn't it pink already?

Not the farm-raised salmon. It's been industrialized for your consumption under the guise, and color, that it's good for you. Maybe it's better for you than eating a deep-fried burger but it's benefits are hollow compared to what you're expecting.

Duped again.

But fishing krill isn't all about pinking pale salmon... it's a b'zillion dollar industry that's being horribly over-fished to the point where the ocean's ecosystem is on the verge of collapsing.

Once again man's need to consume beyond any normal rate of moderate intelligence has created a global crisis.

What can you do? Consume responsibly. Eat organically. Read the labels and buy intelligently.