Foraminifera
Foraminifera are marine amoeboid organisms that secrete a shell (called a test) in which they live a generally planktonic existence. The shells are covered with numerous small holes through which pseudopodia extrude to engulf food particles.
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 Spirolina arietinus x128 |
Each shell is no
larger than a grain of sand but millions upon millions drop to the seabed
forming vast deposits hundreds of feet deep. Over (geological) time
many of these deposits of
FOSSIL
remains have been uplifted to form vast expanses of chalk rock and such
familiar land features as the white cliffs of Dover.
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All images copyright © Andrew Syred 2000