Giant one-celled organisms discovered over six miles below the ocean's surface

mongabay.com ^ | October 23, 2011 | Jeremy Hance

[neverdem]

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Imagine a one-celled organism the size of a mango. It's not science fiction, but fact: scientists have cataloged dozens of giant one-celled creatures, around 4 inches (10 centimeters), in the deep abysses of the world's oceans. But recent exploration of the Mariana Trench has uncovered the deepest record yet of the one-celled behemoths, known as xenophyophores.

Found at 6.6 miles beneath the ocean's surface, the xenophyophores beats the previous record by nearly two miles. The Mariana Trench xenophyophores were discovered by dropcams, developed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and National Geographic, which are unmanned HD cameras 'dropped' into the deep ocean to record life at the bottom.

Xenophyophore in the Galapagos Rift. Photo by: NOAA.

Previous research has shown that xenophyophores are host to a number of multicellular organisms, meaning that the Mariana Trench could be teeming with life.

"The identification of these gigantic cells in one of the deepest marine environments on the planet opens up a whole new habitat for further study of biodiversity, biotechnological potential and extreme environment adaptation," says Doug Bartlett, the Scripps marine microbiologist who organized the Mariana Trench expedition, in a press release.

Xenophyophores are the largest known single cells, and have been found in great abundance on the sea floor. But given their fragility and deep-water lives, they are incredibly difficult to study and much of their natural history remains mysterious to scientists.

Close-ups of xenophyophores obtained on previous expeditions. Photo credit: Lisa Levin (all except upper right, credit David Checkley)

"As one of very few taxa found exclusively in the deep sea, the xenophyophores are emblematic of what the deep sea offers. They are fascinating giants that are highly adapted to extreme conditions but at the same time are very fragile and poorly studied," explains Lisa Levin, director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. "These and many other structurally important organisms in the deep sea need our stewardship as human activities move to deeper waters."

[AndyJackson]

Assuming that this is a serious question, a mango is a tropical fruit about the size of a human fist. That means that these single cell organisms are huge, as one normally thinks of single cell organisms as being, literally, microscoopic, i.e. only visible in a microscope.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...a mango is a tropical fruit about the size of a human fist...”
-
I know, just my flippant comment and point being that,
a more logical comparison would have been to the size of a fist.
Why, of all things, would someone compare something to the size of a mango?
Certainly not the first thing that would come to most folk’s mind.

[pabianice]

""These and many other structurally important organisms in the deep sea need our stewardship as human activities move to deeper waters."

Translation: another way ecofascists can lock-up areas from mineral exploration

[pabianice]

How do they know that’s a single cell?

It was blogging on singlecellmatch.com 8*)

[SIDENET]

I'm a single-cell organism.

Wanna see my nucleus?

:)

[gopheraj]

How big is a mango? hmmm about 5'6" or so ;)

[Grimmy]

Yep. Tastes like chicken... only different.

[piasa]

At the depth of these things the pressure exerted on them is 15,750 psi or 2,268,000# / Sq Ft.

They probably don't feel a thing since the pressure inside of them is also 15,750 psi or 2,268,000# / Sq Ft.

[grey_whiskers]

A conference of lawyers?

I believe the actual term (similar to a "pride of lions") would be an argument of lawyers.

I would have preferred an infernum or a slime but it wasn't my call...

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

You've got some HOT Golgi bodies.

Cheers!

[steve86]

Inside the cell wall probably just a touch higher.

[grey_whiskers]

I thought single-celled organisms reproduced asexually...OTOH, sex had to have started somewhere, and it doesn't look like there's much ELSE to do down there.

It's like downtown Fargo ND after 11:00 PM on Saturday night...

Cheers!