Xenophyophores are awesome, unique and quite frankly, pretty strange...

But first let me introduce my "A Thing I Learned Today" series of posts. I don't think I qualify as a newbie here anymore, yet I've been a bit slow to start posting regularly. I decided that I must change that and start publishing the type of content I would loke to see on steemit myself. That's why I decided to start posting interesting things I've learned about science with the goal of having at least a few posts per week like that to give me a push into more regular posting. Now off to the real content...

Xenophyophores: Giant Readioactive Single Cells From The Bottom Of The Ocean

Image Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Galapagos Rift Expedition 2011

As most people interested in science or nature know, we know more about space than we know about the oceans on our own planet. And keeping their sheer size and depth in mind, we shouldn't be surprised that the ocean floors are full of strange and unique creatures that are very different from the life we are used to and that we know very little about.

One such creature is the Xenophyophore. It's a single-cell organism, but it's actually pretty huge for a cell - most specimens are about 10 centimeters / 4 inches with the largest ones reaching double that size. It's basically one huge amoeba-like organism that makes a kind of frilly shell called test for itself from particles it finds floating around and falling on or near it.

These organisms are quite abundant on the deep ocean floors throughout the planet and the fact that we currently know very little about them is a testament to how much we have left to learn about the ecosystems we are part of.

Image Credit: IFE, URI-IAO, UW, Lost City Science Party; NOAA/OAR/OER; The Lost City 2005 Expedition

So here are 4 interesting things about Xenophyophores.

1. They are unicellular, but have multiple nuclei

Unlike most other organisms of similar sizes on our planet, Xenophyophore are made up by one huge single cell. To put things in perspective, we could say that billions of regular humans cells could fit into the space a single organism occupies. One of the things that make this possible and allows this single cell to perform all kinds of functions unlike the specialized ones we have, is the multiple nuclei spread throughout its volume.

2. They tend to be radioactive

Despite the fact that we are still not fully familiar with the exact process these organisms use to form their tests, we know one peculiar outcome of it. For some reason, Xenophyophores tend to end up with larger percentage of radioactive metals like uranium in their tests which makes them more irregularly radioactive.

3. We can't grow them in a lab

Xenophyophores are fascinating and marine biologists are eager to study them, but unfortunately they are quite fragile, so it's hard to move them around to study and we are yet absolutely unable to grow them in a lab. They simply require specific conditions that are very hard to get right and this further hinders our ability to study them properly.

4. Xenophyophores are neither animals, plants or fungus

They are protists with other examples of such organisms being algae. This means that their bodies (or in other words their single cells) functions differently from what biologists are generally used to. This only comes back to highlight how much it is too learn about the ocean floor and its ecosystem and the role the relatively abundant Xenophyophores play in it.