foraminifer

Definitions

Any of a large group of aquatic amoeboid protists of the subphylum Foraminifera, characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm that among other things is used for catching food, often with a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude.

Equivalents

6 more languages

Češtinadírkonošecdírkonožec

Italianoforaminifero

日本語有孔虫

한국어유공충유공충아문

Portuguêsforaminífero

Русскийды́рочникфораминифера

Examples

“The species of foraminifer which composes, almost to the exclusion of all others, the deep Atlantic mud, is called Globigerina. […] The natural home of the foraminifers appears to be in the deeper parts of the ocean, commencing where the regular inhabitants of limited depths terminate.”

“The Heterostegina-bed at Malta is not without smaller Foraminifers (some of which we can identify⟳,—as the Globigerina bulloides, Truncatulina lobatula, &c.), but the matrix is too stubborn to yield⟳ all its treasures.”

“From a palæontological point⟳ of view⟳ the only part of a Foraminifer with which we have⟳ to deal⟳ is the shell or "test⟳," […] Each bud of the compound Foraminifer is surrounded by its own⟳ shell, so that the whole comes to be composed of a number⟳ of chambers, each containing a mass of sarcode.”

“The environmental significance of foraminifer abundance variations in Arctic cores is controversial[…]. One interpretation concludes that foraminifer-rich intervals represent⟳ interglacial conditions reflecting seasonally absent or reduced ice cover⟳ leading to increased productivity; intervals barren or nearly barren of foraminifers are considered to represent⟳ glacial conditions with thicker ice cover⟳ and lower productivity[…].”

“A cross-section through a single agglutinated foraminifer – in this case, one that selected both carbonate and non-carbonate grains to build⟳ its test⟳. These foraminifers are recognizable by the chamber-shaped grain arrangements rather than the otherwise random distribution of grains in the rest⟳ of the rock.”

“One of the most frequently asked questions concerns the predators of planktic foraminifers. Whereas a large variety of predators of benthic foraminifers have⟳ been identified, the nature of planktic foraminifer predators is largely enigmatic.”

CEFR level