Not all algae in Bigelow Laboratory’s National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota (NCMA) collection are peaceful plankton. Some have a monster appetite!
Oxyrrhis marina is a heterotrophic marine algae that doesn’t make its own food like most other autotrophic algae. Instead, it hunts it. Think: Michael Myers in pursuit of a king-sized candy bar.
But this algae’s meal of choice isn’t a sugary confection. Instead, it’s hunting down Dunaliella tertiolecta, another algae in the collection. To keep Oxyrrhis happy and prevent it from turning on its own kind, curators “feed” it fresh Dunaliella every few weeks.
Check out this eerie microscope footage of Oxyrrhis in action, and enjoy our very own Halloween horror story from the microscopic world.
From everyone at Bigelow Laboratory: happy Halloween! 🎃
