Euglena is a genus of single cell flagellate eukaryotes. It is the best known and most widely studied member of the class Euglenoidea, a diverse group containing some 54 genera and at least 200 species. Species of Euglena are found in fresh water and salt water. They are often abundant in quiet inland waters where they may bloom in numbers sufficient to color the surface of ponds and ditches green (E. viridis) or red (E. sanguinea).
Euglena
Diagram of Euglena (by Patrick Keeling and Yana Eglit)
Spiral pellicle strips
Cercaria viridis (= E. viridis) from O.F. Müller's Animalcula Infusoria. 1786
A unicellular organism, also known as a single-celled organism, is an organism that consists of a single cell, unlike a multicellular organism that consists of multiple cells. Organisms fall into two general categories: prokaryotic organisms and eukaryotic organisms. Most prokaryotes are unicellular and are classified into bacteria and archaea. Many eukaryotes are multicellular, but some are unicellular such as protozoa, unicellular algae, and unicellular fungi. Unicellular organisms are thought to be the oldest form of life, with early protocells possibly emerging 3.8–4.8 billion years ago.
Valonia ventricosa, a species of alga with a diameter that ranges typically from 1 to 4 centimetres (0.4 to 1.6 in) is among the largest unicellular species
Modern stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia. It can take a century for a stromatolite to grow 5 cm.
A bottom-dwelling community found deep in the European Arctic.
Paramecium tetraurelia, a ciliate, with oral groove visible