Foraminifera

About Foraminifera:

• It is a group of single-celled organisms that have inhabited the world’s oceans for over 500 million years.
• The shells have hundreds of tiny holes called foramen, the Latin word for window. 
• They are among the most abundant and ecologically important organisms in the ocean.
• Features of Foraminifera:
  • Size: They are generally sand-grain size, measuring between 500 and 50 µm.
  • Habitat: They live in the open ocean, along the coasts, and in estuaries.
  • Most have shells for protection and either float in the water column (planktonic) or live on the sea floor (benthic). 
  • They construct their intricate shells, called “tests,” from materials they scavenge from their surroundings (agglutinating mineral grains). 
  • The most of foraminifera” ‘crawl around’ using their pseudopodia.
  • They don’t have a wall around their cell membranes, they are extremely flexible and can change shape.
  • The organism pushes extensions of its cytoplasm called pseudopodia (or false feet) through these holes to gather food.
  • Diet: Foraminifera eat detritus on the sea floor and anything smaller than them: diatoms, bacteria, algae, and even small animals such as tiny copepods.
  • They build complex shells, consisting at their simplest of one chamber (like a vase or tube) to many chambers that coil in elaborate ways.