To meet the little penguin's metabolic needs the digestive system of penguins has to be both as light as possible and as efficient as possible. Weight has been minimized by the loss of teeth. To keep weight as low as possible, it also means that there is a limit to the amount of fat a penguin can store. 'Efficient' means that it must locate, eat, and digest food as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Most of the penguins food is caught when they take shallow dives. They dive to depths less than 30 feet but they will sometimes dive to the seabed in search of prey species. Little penguins eat small fish such as:
- anchovies
- squid
- plankton
- krill
- small octopus
- pilchards
From the sea floor, little penguins may eat:
- crab larvae
- sea horses
- crustaceans
Like most penguins, they swallow their food whole.
