"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
05/26/2016 at 17:15 • Filed to: sciencelopnik, cells, organisms, fruit fly sperm
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"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
05/26/2016 at 17:15 • Filed to: sciencelopnik, cells, organisms, fruit fly sperm | 2
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Going by our high school biology lessons, cells could be considered analogous in biology to atoms in physics and chemistry - both are convenient units from which other things use as building blocks, both have certain characteristics that both determine how those building blocks are used and in what results from their arrangement, and both are supposed to be teeny tiny . Atoms require sophisticated scientific equipment that’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but cells can be seen through very powerful microscopes.
Or, at least that’s the conventional thinking. Turns out there’s some organism cells that can be seen, very much quite plainly, with your own naked eyes.
Given the aforementioned high school biology we’re very much accustomed to thinking of large (or large-ish) biological creatures being made up of billions or trillions of cells, atomic-building-block style, but the following creators or other biological mechanisms aren’t made up of billions of cells, or thousands or even hundreds - they’re made up of just one.
Xenophyophore
Official NOAA image
Yup, you’re staring at a single-celled creature. That’s one body/brain/digestive/what-have-you cell right there. And no, that image isn’t taken through a microscope either - it was snapped from an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) using no zoom enhancement whatsoever. In fact, for the average computer monitor that image is approximately life-sized compared to the real thing. They were originally considered sponges until it was discovered that their cellular makeup consists of exactly one, the biological organism itself.
Valonia ventricosa
Image public domain via Wikipedia
Again, that’s just a single cell right there, and again, for the average computer monitor that image would appear approximating life-size to the real thing. It is a single-cellular form of algae. Rarely, they can be found in multiple-polyp symbiotic communities that can technically be considered to be multi-cellular organisms, but they are most frequently found as single and independent organisms/cells. As they are single cells, they reproduce asexually - one cell mitocizes into two, just like the cells within your own body. According to Wikipedia, this process resembles the formation of “bubbles” on the “mother cell” which continue to grow until finally detaching to form new individual organisms/cells.
Egg Cells
Human egg cell diagram via Wikipedia
Eggs cells are typically the largest cells of whatever multi-cellular organism they originate from. The human egg cell is the only cell from the human body that can be seen with the unaided human eye - although just barely with an average diameter a tenth of a millimeter.
Fruit Fly Sperm
Image from Nature. Not literally Nature, from Nature Magazine I presume. Well, I guess Nature had a hand in it too.
Yeah, you’re probably looking at this and realizing that yes !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The fruit fly sperm is over 2 inches long - far longer than any other creature’s sperm - and simultaneously qualifies as one of the largest organism single cells on Earth. The actual amount of genetic material deposited by this single cell, however, is positively tiny compared to the rest of this single cell itself. Regardless, this doesn’t change the fact that this single cell is absolutely a freak of nature and size when it comes to the vast majority of biological cells, both as single whole creatures and as building blocks of creatures more complex, needing powerful microscopes to distinctly see.
Eric @ opposite-lock.com
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
05/26/2016 at 17:28 |
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When you mentioned it, eggs were my first thought... An unfertilized egg is a single cell, but a fertilized ones isn’t.
HideyoshiJP
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
05/26/2016 at 17:58 |
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I remember finding that Xenophyophore on Wikipedia. After I saw the picture, I felt super creeped out. It seemed unnatural.