giant agglutinated foraminiferan Astrammina rara

Astrammina rara is usually found buried within the top centimeter of sediment, but is occasionally encountered on the surface or perched upon a worm tube [5].. Because the foram's shell is composed of locally-collected sediment grains, it is well camouflaged [5]. Here it is shown at Explorers Cove, New Harbor.

A foraminiferan is a unicellular organism, characterized by long, fine protrusions (pseudopodia) extending far away from their cytoplasmic body which is encased within a test or shell. There is always one nucleus but there may be a stage with multiple nuclei early in asexual reproduction.

Foraminifera are a class within the kingdom Protista or Protoctista (depending on author's taxonomic preference) which encompasses eukaryote organisms like algae, protozoa and flagellate fungi.

Foraminifera are almost entirely marine and are one of the most abundant marine invertebrates, playing a major role in the marine environment. Bottow-dwelling (benthic) foraminiferans occur in most marine environments, particularly in deepsea and outer continental shelf muds.

Foraminiferans as a group may eat live food (bacteria, unicellular algae, especially diatoms, other protozoa, and small crustaceans such as copepods which are snared in their pseudopodia) or dead material (dead organisms, organic-rich grains including fecal pellets, particulate organic detritus, and colloidal organic molecules). These broad food preferences make them ideally adapted to the benthic environment.

1: Marine Micropaleontology 26:5-88, 1995 ; 2: Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 40:121-131, 1993 ; 3: Journal of Protozoology 3:724-732, 1992; 4: Journal of Foraminiferal Research 16:216-224, 1986; 5: Sam Bowser, personal communication, 2000

Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photograph ©Robert Sanders (Sam Bowser/S043 archives). Photographs may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Robert Sanders (Sam Bowser/S043 archives).