Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia
Dictyocha fibula
The golden-yellow pigments visible in this image of Dictyocha fibula indicate that it belongs to the large and complex group of golden algae known as Chrysophyta. The word Dictyocha means “net” and refers to the large windows in the silica test. Only three species of Dictyocha are alive today. They are all that remains of a group of organisms that flourished more than 5 million years ago and whose fossils are abundant in some Miocene deposits.
zoom image
- Kingdom Chrysophyta
- Length 0.045 mm
- Habitat Surface waters
- Distribution Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, and eastern Pacific off coast of Chile
