''Amphikrikos'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

in the family

Oocystaceae Oocystaceae is a family (biology), family of green algae, in the class Trebouxiophyceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies mostly (but not always) place the family in the order Chlorellales, as sister to Chlorellaceae. The Type (biology), type genus ...

.See the

NCBI The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is loca ...

br>webpage on Amphikrikos
Data extracted from the It is found in freshwater and has been reported from most continents. ''Amphikrikos'' consists of solitary,

planktonic Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in water (or air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they pro ...

cells about 3–13 μm long and 2–9 μm wide. Cells are barrel-shaped, cylindrical, ellipsoid or broadly oval, with rounded poles. The cell may be surrounded by a thin, structureless

mucilage Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...

layer. The

cell wall A cell wall is a structural layer that surrounds some Cell type, cell types, found immediately outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. Primarily, it provides the cell with structural support, shape, protection, ...

is smooth, or covered with dark-brown incrustations on the surface which appear as granules or ribs, mainly near the equator and poles of the cell. Cells contain one (or two)

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...

s, which is/are parietal and may have or lack a

pyrenoid Pyrenoids are sub-cellular phase-separated micro-compartments found in chloroplasts of many algae,Giordano, M., Beardall, J., & Raven, J. A. (2005). CO2 concentrating mechanisms in algae: mechanisms, environmental modulation, and evolution. ''An ...

Asexual reproduction Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the f ...

occurs by the formation of typically four (rarely 2 or 8)

autospore Autospores are a type of spores that are produced by algae to enable asexual reproduction and spread. They are non-motile and non-Flagellated cell, flagellated Aplanospore, aplanospores that are generated within a parent cell and have the same sha ...

s per cell; these are released through a tear in the mother cell wal.

References

Oocystaceae Trebouxiophyceae genera Freshwater algae {{green algae-stub