As I was cleaning my tank, especially of the buildup of cyanobacteria AKA blue-green algae, I reflected on how weird and wonderful (and annoying!) cyanobacteria is. Cyanobacteria are tiny single-celled critters that can take sunlight and turn it into energy and life. The dark side to cyanobacteria is that some of its species produce toxic blooms in the ocean that can kill fish and other creatures. In our drinking or swimming water it can cause serious health problems.
The wonderful part is that it is responsible for roughly half of the oxygen on earth today. Also, ALL the oxygen at the start of the explosion of life in the Cambrian period, some 547 million years ago. Not only that, but one tiny cyanobacteria swimming around got eaten by a one celled animal, and that one time the cyanobacteria did not get digested. It remained alive in the animal and became the first ever plastid or photosynthesizing organ in our first ever algae/plant. This new critter now had a slight edge over all the other other one-celled species, having an improved way to turn the sun into energy, and thrived and multiplied. This one single event may be THE reason for the new diversity of life that occurred in the Cambrian period, when our atmosphere gradually changed from high in carbon dioxide to high in oxygen.
The weird thing about cyanobacteria is how they move. My cyanobacteria is Ocsillopsia, consisting of long tiny filaments with a mucous sheath. The filaments can be seen to move back and forth under a microscope. One theory is that little nozzles squirting out mucous push the filaments away in the opposite direction, back and forth. Crazy!
Clumps of blue-black crud
Uptake of cyanobacteria turning the body of my anemone blue.
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