Some are large enough to see with the naked eye, like one species that grows in white, filamentous mats on mangrove roots in the West Indies, though most are microscopic. About 40 percent of the microbes living in the ocean are archaea. Some archaea can withstand environments close to 35 percent salt-shockingly salty considering ocean water only measures at 3.5 percent.ДЄs the first discovered archaea were found in extreme environments, initially archaea were classified as вЂњextremophiles.вЂќ However, it is now known that they live everywhere, in places as dissimilar as the ocean floor to the cow gut. They hold the record for the highest tolerated temperature at 266 degrees Fahrenheit (130 degrees Celsius), and some research suggests they could tolerate up to 302 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius). Even in the scalding hot springs in Yellowstone, these creatures thrive. Many archaea live in the most extreme environments on the planet, including places that are incredibly salty, hot, acidic, or radioactive. But a closer inspection reveals many of their genes are more similar to complex life, like animals. They are also single-celled organisms with a basic cell structure. Much of the confusion stems from their visual resemblance to bacteria. Often a single plasmid is transmitted from one bacterium to another in a sex-like interaction called conjugation.ДЄlthough once considered specialized bacteria, archaea are now known to be their own unique domain of life. Bacteria occasionally carry DNA in smaller rings known as plasmids. Bacterial DNA is usually organized into a single circular chromosome. Unlike more complex organisms, such as eukaryotes, bacteria lack an enclosed nucleus and instead the DNA floats in a bunched tangle called the nucleoid. The cell consists of a permeable cell membrane, DNA, protein factories called ribosomes, and a protective outer cell wall. They are usually shaped as either a rod, sphere, or spiral, although some have unique characteristics like a particularly tight spiral coil. Evidence of their existence can be found in fossilized mounds called stromatolites,В seemingly unremarkable rocks which are, in fact, layers upon layers of dead cyanobacteria.ДЄ bacterium is a unicellular organism, or prokaryote, with a relatively simple cell structure. Some bacteria, like cyanobacteria, lived more than 3.5 billion years ago during the Precambrian. Bacteria from the Bdellovibrio genus will even hunt down and consume other bacteria. While some obtain energy through photosynthesis, others are able to produce energy through different chemical reactions. The smallest are one-hundredth of a millimeter and the largest, found in ocean sediments off the coast of Namibia, are three-quarters of a millimeter, large enough to see with the naked eye. They have been found in almost every surface on Earth, even in places that are seemingly inhospitable. They are also extremely abundant-in just a single drop of water there can be over 100 species of bacteria. Often regarded as vectors of disease, the majority of bacteria are actually harmless and in fact integral to ecosystems across the globe. Without them, the world we know would not exist. Microbes are essential for a thriving ocean ecosystem. They can glow, help shape clouds, and produce one of the deadliest toxins in the world. They were even the first life on the planet, living without oxygen in an ancient ocean. Microbes live in some of the most extreme environments, from boiling hydrothermal vents to underground glacial lakes in the Antarctic. Many are also the keepers of healthy ecosystems, cleaning the ocean of waste and often defending against disease rather than spreading it.

Microbes are often the engines of ecosystems that otherwise would not have access to the food and nutrients they need. Just because these microbes canвЂ™t be seen does not mean they are unimportant. If you weighed all the living organisms in the ocean, 90 percent of that weight would be from microbes. They include bacteria, viruses, archaea, protists, and fungi. Invisible to the naked eye, there is a teeming world of microbes living in the ocean with a complexity and diversity that rivals all other life on Earth.

Outer banks cross weight