The largest
bacteria yet found. This
strain of bacteria is so large, that a single
cell is about the same
size as the
period at the end of this
sentence. Yes, for one single cell. It's almost as
large as the
head of a
fruit fly. It's large enough that it has other bacteria living on it's
outside.
For a comparison in sizes - if a normal bacterium were the size of a mouse, the previous largest bacteria would be the size of a lion, and this new one would be the size of a blue whale.
It was discovered in samples of sediment from Africa.