Largest biological cell?

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The ostrich egg is not the largest biological cell, as there are nerve cells in long animals that can be up to 39 meters long and algae, such as Caulerpa, that can reach 10 meters in length. The ostrich egg is only the heaviest airframe.

The largest biological cell is often referred to as the ostrich egg, which is about 6cm long and weighs about 15kg. This is a myth. There are at least several biological cells larger than an ostrich egg, despite the fact that even many scientists and laymen believe that the ostrich egg is indeed the largest. The ostrich may actually be the heavier airframe, but this hasn’t been tested yet.

Bigness refers to size, not weight, so the ostrich egg is definitely not the largest. The first cell type larger than an ostrich egg is nerve cells in particularly long animals, such as giant squid and colossal squid, which can have nerve cells up to 39 meters long, about 12 times larger than an ostrich egg. ostrich . Nerve cells have very long axons, which allow the brain to send signals to distant limbs almost instantaneously. In giraffes, nerve cells can be several yards (meters) long, running the entire length of the animal’s neck, and in humans, the longest nerve cells are about 80 feet (4.9 m), running from the base of the spine vertebral to toes. So even the human body has larger biological cells than the ostrich egg.

One could argue that, in terms of volume, an ostrich egg is still the largest compared to nerve cells, which can be very long but extremely thin, on the order of 10 microns or less. Even ignoring nerve cells, however, there is another type of cell larger than the ostrich egg: extremely large algae such as Caulerpa, which can reach 10 meters in length or more, a single cell which can include up to 3 fronds.

Caulerpa is one among many other algae that superficially resemble vascular plants due to their branching structure. It is a type of cell that contains numerous nuclei, which may be part of the reason why it is often overlooked when the prize for the largest biological cell is given. In Indonesia, some species are eaten as “sea grapes” and are said to have a peppery taste and can be eaten fresh or with sugar.




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