The Xenophyophore is a single-celled organism that can grow several inches across, building its body out of sand, shells, and other seafloor debris. It’s a walking trash castle, but it’s thriving. #marinelife #science
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The adaptability of nature is endlessly fascinating. This little dude is amazing!
jan 25, 2025, 9:28 pm • 1 0 • view
Are these uncommon or are they more likely to be available in one specific part of the ocean floor? Thank you for sharing!
jan 26, 2025, 8:14 am • 0 0 • view
This is 1 cell?! Seriously?
jan 25, 2025, 10:31 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah they're giant multinucleate foraminifera.
jan 26, 2025, 2:44 am • 1 0 • view
Multinucleate makes sense, thanks for the explanation. It's still pretty wild.
jan 26, 2025, 4:36 am • 1 0 • view
These are rhizarian amoebas from kingdom Harosa (≈ SAR), so their pseudopods are full of microtubules! Most other amoebas are in kingdom Amoebozoa, with an internal MT skeleton but no MTs in their pseudopods. A minority of amoebas lack MT entirely (heteroloboseans in kingdom Discoba for example).
may 21, 2025, 8:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Things like this and chemosynthetic tubeworms are why I’m convinced there must be life on other planets.
jan 26, 2025, 12:53 pm • 0 0 • view
#iloveit
jan 25, 2025, 9:00 pm • 0 0 • view
OMG. I teach about it (retaria ❤️), but your comment helped me see that I can use Marjory from Fraggle Rock to illustrate. Of course, the students won't get the reference, but I will be very happy!
jan 26, 2025, 9:18 pm • 3 0 • view