Marine Microbe from the Open Ocean

This microscopic acantharian is a unicellular amoeba found in the open ocean. — (Image used under license to Marine Biological Laboratories)

This beautiful open ocean microbe is a type of large amoeba called an acantharian. Microbes account for over 90 percent of the biomass in the ocean -- they are teeming with microscopic bacteria, viruses and other single-celled organisms. February 2013