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These amazingly intricate animals represent a widely encountered group of single celled organisms of the oceans plankton. For the most part they have skeletal structures of silica and are hence well represented in the fossil record. where they are of special interest to the oil exploration industry as well as studies investigating the earth's climate history. Many Radiolarians strontium in their skeletal structures. Besides aiding the organisms' buoyancy their numerous spines facilitate their feeding (by way of protoplasmic streaming to transport captured prey to the cells' core). Remains of skeletal material descending in the seas are thought to be a major contributor to the 'siliceous ooze'- a colloidal deposit that blankets the oceans' floors. .
As well as feeding on smaller plankton many Radiolarians partake in sophisticated symbiotic relationships with algal cells ( in particular the zoo-xanthellae, a group of dinoflagellates famed for their symbioses with coral animals among others) which would require their remaining in the upper layers of the ocean waters with sufficient light available for photosynthesis.
This video is created using Blender software and the species 3d modelled from light and electron photo-microscopy. Among the models in this video are Callosphaera macropora, Ptercanium trilobatum, Euphyceta lacuni,
Conchellium capsa, Hexalonche amphisiphon and unnamed species of Acrosphaera, Actinomiidae, Anthocyrtidium, Actinomma, Botryostrobis, and Solenosphaera,
The soundtrack is from 'Seeing you again' by Ketsa.
View Plankton artwork by Noel at
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