When put under a microscope, the skeletons of Radiolaria look somewhat like snowflakes, space ships or complicated chandeliers. These living fossils have inhabited the ocean for millions of years.
When put under a microscope, the skeletons of Radiolaria look somewhat like snowflakes, space ships or complicated chandeliers. These living fossils have inhabited the ocean for millions of years.
Splendid skeleton
Radiolaria stand out because of their beautiful skeletons made of silica (glass). A microscope reveals the complex structure of these skeletons, no two are alike. Radiolaria are unicellular organisms that live in the ocean as plankton. They graze on other floating organisms and particles by “catching” them with long bulges of the cell membrane.
Living fossil
Radiolaria have inhabited the earth for millions of years. When a radiolarian dies, it’s skeleton sinks to the bottom of the ocean. In all these years, a thick layer of fossilized silica-skeletons has been formed: radiolarite. Researchers use the composition of the radiolarite to tell the age of a certain rock.