Ethmodiscales
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Ethmodiscales
''Ethmodiscus'' is a genus of diatoms found widely scattered throughout the intertropical and temperate zones in the world's oceans. The large diatom genus can get up to 2mm in size, and it has distinct cell features like a vacuole that comprises over 99% of its cell's volume. Despite their large size, they are known to be in open oceans in low quantity. While in the ocean, ''Ethmodiscus'' use buoyancy control to migrate up and down to the high nitrogen depths and return to the surface to photosynthesize. Additionally, the biological characteristics of ''Ethmodiscus'' are an important component in interpreting deep-sea sedimentary richness and distribution. ''Ethmodiscus rex'' is one of the most frequent species found in deep-sea sediments. The species was found by John D. Wiseman and Ingram N. Hendey in 1952 on the deep-sea floor by the H.M.S. ''Challenger''. During this time, ''E. rex'' was known to rarely be found in the living state in plankton communities. References

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Diatoms
A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of the Earth's Biomass (ecology), biomass: they generate about 20 to 50 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year, take in over 6.7 billion metric tons of silicon each year from the waters in which they live, and constitute nearly half of the organic material found in the oceans. The Protist shell, shells of dead diatoms can reach as much as a half-mile (800 m) deep on the ocean floor, and the entire Amazon basin is fertilized annually by 27 million tons of diatom shell dust transported by transatlantic winds from the African Sahara, much of it from the Bodélé Dep ...
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