Rinsed Thioploca bundles from the Chilean Coast. The gelatinous,
transparent sheaths harbor white cell filaments. The larger filaments,
of the species Thioploca araucae, have a diameter of 40 µm.
Thioplaca forms mats with a huge biomass thousands of kilometers along the coast of Chile. The cell filaments migrate inside their sheaths between the upper, oxic and the lower, anoxic and sulfide-containing layers.
Giant sulfur bacteria
