The stramenopiles, also called heterokonts, are protists distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attache
Electron micrograph of the protist Paraphysomonas butcheri. It illustrates the stramenopile property of having stiff hairs. The hairs attach to one longer flagellum, the other is without hairs. The body is coated with delicate scales. Paraphysomonas feeds on bacteria, two of which lie near the hairy flagellum.
Two living C. roenbergensis. Light micrograph. The cells are about 6 µm long. The anterior flagellum beats with an undulating pattern, the posterior (recurrent or smooth) flagellum usually holds the cell to the substrate.
Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, an example of a multicellular stramenopile, is a large seaweed, up to 45 metres (150 feet) long, in the Phaeophyceae, within the Gyrista.
Opalinata is a superclass of non-phagotrophic heterokonts that unites the classes Opalinea and Blastocystea, and is the sister group to Opalomonadea.