Like the protozoa, they are also single celled. But the biggest different between the two is that the plant-like protists, phytoplankton are autotrophic, which means they could produce their own food through photosynthesis. Phytoplanktons are commonly called algae and have accessory pigments that help absorb the sunlight, giving the algae various colours. Also, they mostly live in water and damp surfaces. This group includes dinoflagellates, chrysophyes, diatoms and euglenophytes.
Euglena
Euglenas are single celled phytoplanktons that live in the water. Euglena contains a nucleus, choloroplasts, flagellum, eye spot, contractille vacuole, pellicle, and cell membrane. They would use their chloroplasts for photosynthesis but when it’s dark; they could turn into heterotrophs and search for foods themselves. Euglenas have an eye spot that could detect light and dark, and they have a pellicle that’s used as a cell wall to maintain its shape. Finally, they have asexual reproduction by binary fission. Like the amoeba, it would divide its every body parts into two, and then the middle would split, separating the organism into two.
Euglena Dividing
I think it’s really cool how the Euglena could change from being an autotrophic into a heterotrophic if their aren’t any sunlight. I don’t think there’s anything besides this organism that could do that and i find that really interesting.
