Comments on: Largest Single-Celled Organism Found 6 Miles Beneath Sea

By: Uday Chandan

Uday Chandan — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:36:00 +0000

LOL! We should harvest them for fissionable materials!

By: Ryan B

Ryan B — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:09:40 +0000

Don’t make an image clickable when it does not expand the size of the image. I clicked through three times to see an image of the exact same size as presented in the article. This is a dishonest way to get more page hits. Cut it out.

By: Marco P

Marco P — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:55:02 +0000

Caulerpa consist definitely of only one cell with many nuclei. Beside wikipedia (see Caulerpa) there are at least an article in Scientific American and one in Science&Vie saying that.
Also the ostrich egg is definitely a single cell.

By: ENT-TT

ENT-TT — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:47:15 +0000

I’m curious to know if a dietary analysis was performed on the fauna which share the floor with Xenophyophorea, and those which live elsewhere. Is there a consistent corollary between the number of ‘phores, the number of other Things, and the levels of toxic heavy metals present in each group? Do the ‘phores neighbors benefit from cohabitation in a less toxic environment?

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:03:13 +0000

‘one big individual cell’ ? …Well, according to the link in the above article it is arguably not unicellular -

“Xenophyophores are sometimes referred to as the largest unicellular organisms, but as I’ve mentioned before, that’s arguably not entirely appropriate.” – http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2009/07/living-with-poo-new-xenophyophore.html

By: Jorj

Jorj — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:14:53 +0000

No. The ostrich egg is not a single cell. It consists of millions of cells inside the shell.

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:51:34 +0000

@badnocolez –
I’m pretty sure the word “perhaps” in the original article covers the possibility that there could be larger single-cell organisms that have yet to be discovered.

By: John (The Other Canadian)

John (The Other Canadian) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:43:27 +0000

Slime molds are single multinuclear cells.
Much bigger than four inches.
And come in a variety of exciting colors.

By: Geack

Geack — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:01:58 +0000

@ Mike – Caulerpa taxifolia is an algae – it covers acres with bajillions of tiny single-cell organisms. This thing in the article is just one great big individual cell.
@Sreenivas – The old “is an egg a cell” debate has raged for decades. Depends on how you define the egg’s membrane, if I recall right… In any case an egg isn’t a “single-celled organism” – prior to fertilization, it’s a single cell (or has a single cell in it, depending on your take on the argument), but it’s not an organisn until it’s fertilized, at which point it has two cells, and then lots more…

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:29:41 +0000

Mike, I can find no evidence that Caulerpa taxifolia is a single celled organism.