portrait

Description:

Collozoum, a colonial radiolarian, the bright spots being the central capsules of the organisms which make up the colony. Up to 5000 capsules may be present in a colony. These colonies are like long sausages up to several centimetres in length. The colony has a segmented appearance because the components of the colony lie in a matrix around large vacuoles or alveoli . This is an example of one of the four types of large amoebae which is common in the marine water column. Image by N. R. Swanberg.