This is a type of macro algae that's pretty darn common. I've mainly seen them on reefs and, when scuba diving, they look like giant ball bearings or pearls. They are actually harder than they look (feels like an under ripe lemon) thanks to their absolute unit of a cell wall. These things have multiple nuclei inside of them, which is not very rare in algae. Off the top of my head, another algae composed of very large multinucleated cells is codium, which is currently a huge issue on the east coast of canada as it is an invasive species, taking over all of the natural coastal habitats.
It's important to note that algae are not plants. They are sorta like the bacteria that became the mitochondria in eukaryotes... except cyanobacteria became the chloroplasts in algae, and then later in plants. There is a reallllllly weird thing with the "chloroplasts" in algae where you can actually determine the family it's from based on how many membranes the chloroplast has. This is because the original algae that ingested the chloroplast were also later ingested by other algae. This has lead to some really weird chloroplasts with several cell layers, and some have layers which have their own DNA. Based off the number of layers, you can tell how many "ingestion" events it took to get to that algae in particular.
Source: I am marine biologist who took an excellent class in algae for my degree. Absolutely the most complex flipping life cycles I have ever had to memorize.
TheKingofWeebs on March 31st, 2019 at 07:48 UTC »
Big grape
LordGuille on March 31st, 2019 at 07:51 UTC »
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa
Now I want to see that thing cut open and reproducing
Never thought a single cell could be so big
Cystonectae on March 31st, 2019 at 12:07 UTC »
This is a type of macro algae that's pretty darn common. I've mainly seen them on reefs and, when scuba diving, they look like giant ball bearings or pearls. They are actually harder than they look (feels like an under ripe lemon) thanks to their absolute unit of a cell wall. These things have multiple nuclei inside of them, which is not very rare in algae. Off the top of my head, another algae composed of very large multinucleated cells is codium, which is currently a huge issue on the east coast of canada as it is an invasive species, taking over all of the natural coastal habitats.
It's important to note that algae are not plants. They are sorta like the bacteria that became the mitochondria in eukaryotes... except cyanobacteria became the chloroplasts in algae, and then later in plants. There is a reallllllly weird thing with the "chloroplasts" in algae where you can actually determine the family it's from based on how many membranes the chloroplast has. This is because the original algae that ingested the chloroplast were also later ingested by other algae. This has lead to some really weird chloroplasts with several cell layers, and some have layers which have their own DNA. Based off the number of layers, you can tell how many "ingestion" events it took to get to that algae in particular.
Source: I am marine biologist who took an excellent class in algae for my degree. Absolutely the most complex flipping life cycles I have ever had to memorize.