11 Facts About Foraminifera

Foraminifera are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an external shell of diverse forms and materials.

Foraminifera typically produce a test, or shell, which can have either one or multiple chambers, some becoming quite elaborate in structure.

Foraminifera is frequently used informally to describe the group, and in these cases is generally lowercase.

Foraminifera named the group foraminiferes, or "hole-bearers", as members of the group had holes in the divisions between compartments in their shells, in contrast to nautili or ammonites.

Taxonomic position of the Foraminifera has varied since Schultze in 1854, who referred to as an order, Foraminiferida.

Foraminifera have typically been included in the Protozoa, or in the similar Protoctista or Protist kingdom.

Foraminifera are themselves eaten by a host of larger organisms, including invertebrates, fish, shorebirds, and other foraminifera.

Foraminifera are found in the deepest parts of the ocean such as the Mariana Trench, including the Challenger Deep, the deepest part known.

The Foraminifera found in the Challenger Deep thus have no carbonate test, but instead have one of organic material.

Foraminifera have many uses in petroleum exploration and are used routinely to interpret the ages and paleoenvironments of sedimentary strata in oil wells.

Foraminifera can be used in archaeology in the provenancing of some stone raw material types.