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Many species live most of their lives as single cells or are filamentous, while others form colonies made up from long chains of cells, or are highly differentiated macroscopic seaweeds. Red algae , a (disputed) phylum contains about 7,000 recognised species, [ 50 ] mostly multicellular and including many notable seaweeds.
A third lineage of algae, the glaucophytes (25 species), [47] contains rare and obscure species found in surfaces of freshwater and terrestrial habitats. [90] The red algae or Rhodophyta (>7,100 species) are a group of diverse morphologies, ranging from single cells to multicellular filaments to giant pseudoparenchymatous thalli, all
Its field of study therefore overlaps with the more traditional disciplines of phycology, mycology, and protozoology, just as protists embrace mostly unicellular organisms described as algae, some organisms regarded previously as primitive fungi, and protozoa ("animal" motile protists lacking chloroplasts).
A protist (/ ˈ p r oʊ t ɪ s t /) is any eukaryotic organism (one with cells containing a nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus.The protists do not form a natural group, or clade, since they exclude certain eukaryotes with whom they share a common ancestor; [a] but, like algae or invertebrates, the grouping is used for convenience.
Unlike plants, fungi and most types of algae, most protozoa do not have a rigid external cell wall but are usually enveloped by elastic structures of membranes that permit movement of the cell. In some protozoa, such as the ciliates and euglenozoans , the outer membrane of the cell is supported by a cytoskeletal infrastructure, which may be ...
[2] [3] [4] The axopodia are microtubule-supported projections from the amoeboid cell body, and are variously used for capturing food, sensation, movement, and attachment. They are similar to Radiolaria , but they are distinguished from them by lacking central capsules and other complex skeletal elements, although some produce simple scales and ...
Cryptomonad flagella are inserted parallel to one another, and are covered by bipartite hairs called mastigonemes, formed within the endoplasmic reticulum and transported to the cell surface. Small scales may also be present on the flagella and cell body. The mitochondria have flat cristae, and mitosis is open; sexual reproduction has also been ...
Microorganisms make up about 70% of the marine biomass. [4] A microorganism, or microbe, is a microscopic organism too small to be recognised adequately with the naked eye. In practice, that includes organisms smaller than about 0.1 mm. [12]: 13