The largest bacteria on Earth

1993/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia

Scientists from Australian University James Cook and Indiana from the U.S. analyze the largest bacteria on Earth. This bacterium was discovered by Israeli researcher Fishelson in 1985, but at that time it was not thought to be a bacterium.

The bacteria inhabit the gut of a tropical fish located in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It does not harm or can live outside the fish.

Its name is "Epulopiscium fishelsoni" and is a million times greater than "Escherichia coli". Recently discovered it was considered a unicellular organism as algae or amoeba. Further analysis has obtained a more detailed classification. Bacteria are prokaryotes, that is, monocellular and monochromosomal, but all other living organisms are eukaryotes, that is, cells are more complex and chromosomes are grouped around an area.