Miniature algae give these predators a desire for something greener.
The world of tiny single-celled organisms is more complex than the average punter would guess, often filled with interactions that make the rest of us wonder how they ever came to be.
One more recent finding was the fascinating (yet still weird) discovery of a small organism called Hatena; in its usual form it has a complex mouth to devour organic objects smaller than itself.
However once it ingests a specific type of organic material, in this case a single-celled algae called Nephroselmis, a strange behaviour and change is introduced to the Hatena.
Rather than continuing on its merry way to chomp on more food, the Hatena has its mouth replaced by an incredibly primitive light-sensing organ.
Once this happens the Hatena moves towards any light sources, using photosynthesis for energy opposed to a chemical breakdown of food, and sustaining the algae within it's body.
Not only does the teensy newly-converted plant analogue feed in a different way, its offspring are different too:
Hatena reproduces by binary fission. So once it splits itself, what happens to the symbiotic alga? Well, one daughter cell gets the alga, and the other gets ot be a predator.. at least until it eats another alga.
Byte Size Biology has a lot more on these crazy little critters - ain't science grand?
Issue: 106 | November, 2009