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Xenophophores are single-celled organisms found in the deepest parts of the ocean. They are delicate and easily damaged, making research difficult. They are one of the largest single-celled organisms and move along the seabed like snails. They consume food by engulfing it and let their fecal matter build up on themselves. They are abundant in some areas of the ocean floor and can withstand extreme pressures.
Xenophophores are protozoa that live in the deepest parts of the ocean. Despite having been discovered around the turn of the 20th century, little is known about these unicellular organisms, mainly because they are delicate and easily damaged when collected, easily mistaken for other organic and non-organic matter, and also because research in the deepest parts of the ocean remain difficult. However, a lot of interest surrounds these single-celled organisms in part because they are one of the largest single-celled organisms found in nature.
While their sizes vary, and some have been found up to 2 mm (0.06 in) wide, one species, Syringammina fragillissima, has been reported to be up to 20 cm (8 in) wide. Their overall shape also varies. They may have friable edges resembling the Golgi apparatus within the eukaryotic cell or they may have a spongy spherical shape. Some are flat and some are four-sided tetrahedrons.
Instead of blood, xenophophores are filled with cytoplasm, intracellular fluid, and many nuclei that contain its genetic material. All of this is encapsulated within an organic, branching, tube-like structure called the granellar. Numerous in the deep ocean, xenophophores move along the seabed like snails. They excrete the plasma to filter the sand and retain only those nutrient particles and small animals, such as nematodes, that are abundant in the seabed.
Like the amoeba, xenophophores consume their food by engulfing it using a structure called a pseudopodium. Most xenophophores live right on the surface, although one species, Occultamine profunda, is known to bury itself in sediments. Xenophophores have at least one disgusting habit: They let their fecal matter, called dung, build up on themselves. The fecal matter mixes with their slimy secretions and produces long thread-like structures. It is here, in part, that the organism gets its name, which comes from the Greek and roughly translates to “carrier of foreign bodies.”
Xenophophores are abundant in some areas of the ocean floor, such as abyssal trenches about 5,000 meters (16,400 ft) deep. Here their density is great, dominating the life found in the area. While they have also been found only 1 meter (about 3 feet) deep, they have also been found living about 7,000 meters (about 23,000 feet) deep in the ocean. While they are relatively delicate in terms of harvesting for scientific purposes, they are quite strong in their ability to withstand extreme pressures on the ocean floor, which can exceed 100 times the pressure at sea level. Xenophophores probably don’t have many predators, as few predators live so deep that they can harvest the abyssal plains.
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