Diatoms – Microscopic size, single-celled algae
Diatoms – A component of the ocean plant plankton, diatoms are microscopic size, single-celled algae. The cell wall of these organisms is made of hard silica (noble opal, by the way), and forms a kind of box with a bottom and a lid. During reproduction by division, the new diatom takes with it a part of the “parent” shell and adds a smaller bottom to it. As a result, the next generations of these algae are getting smaller and smaller
We owe 25 percent of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere to diatoms that produce it in the process of photosynthesis. They also account for a quarter of the biomass of all seas and oceans.
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