Stercomata

Stercomata are pellets of waste material accumulated in some species of foraminifera and testate amoebae. The pellets consist largely of clay minerals and are believed to be derived from ingested sediment, indicating that the stercomata-bearing foraminifera are filter-feeders, although it is possible that they may capture suspended particles.[1][2] In certain species the stercomata are enveloped in sheet-like formations of protoplasm.[3]

See also

References
  1. William E. N. Austin, Rachael James (ed.), Biogeochemical Controls on Palaeoceanographic Environmental Proxies, p. 109
  2. Esteban, Boltovskoy (1976). Recent Foraminifera. Wright, Ramil. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. p. 19. ISBN 9789401728607. OCLC 851378735.
  3. G.T. Rowe, Vita Pariente (ed.), Deep-Sea Food Chains and the Global Carbon Cycle, p. 75


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