This article lists the largest

organisms An organism is any living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have been pr ...

for various types of life and mostly considers

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

species, which found on Earth can be determined according to various aspects of an organism's size, such as: mass, volume, area, length, height, or even

genome size Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single complete genome. It is typically measured in terms of mass in picograms (trillionths or 10−12 of a gram, abbreviated pg) or less frequently in daltons, or as the tot ...

. Some organisms group together to form a

superorganism A superorganism, or supraorganism, is a group of synergetically interacting organisms of the same species. A community of synergetically interacting organisms of different species is called a '' holobiont''. Concept The term superorganism is ...

(such as

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s or bees), but such are not classed as single large organisms. The

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

is the world's largest structure composed of living entities, stretching but contains many organisms of many types of species. When considering singular entities, the largest organisms are

clonal colonies A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in ...

which can spread over large areas. Pando, a clonal colony of the quaking aspen tree, is widely considered to be the largest such organism by mass. Even if such colonies are excluded,

trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only p ...

retain their dominance of this listing, with the

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (also known as the giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood or Wellingtonia) is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the la ...

being the most massive tree. In 2006, a huge

clonal colony A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in ...

of the

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

'' Posidonia oceanica'' was discovered south of the island of

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

. At across, and estimated at 100,000 years old, it may be one of the largest and oldest clonal colonies on Earth. Among

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

, all of the largest species are

marine mammal Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

s, specifically

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

. The

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived. The living land animal classification is also dominated by

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

, with the

African bush elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), also known as the African savanna elephant, is a species of elephant native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of three extant elephant species and, along with the African forest elephant, one ...

being the largest of these.

Plants

The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the

(''Sequoiadendron giganteum''), native to California's Sierra Nevada; it typically grows to a height of and in diameter. The largest organism in the world, according to mass, is the aspen tree whose colonies of clones can grow up to in size. The largest such colony is Pando, in the

Fishlake National Forest Fishlake National Forest is a United States National Forest, U.S. National Forest located in south central Utah. The namesake for the forest is Fish Lake (Utah), Fish Lake, the largest freshwater mountain lake in the state. Wildlife Animals tha ...

in Utah. A form of flowering plant that far exceeds Pando as the largest organism on Earth in area and potentially also mass, is the giant marine plant, '' Posidonia australis'', living in

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

, Australia. Its length is about and it covers an area of . It is also among the oldest known clonal plants. Another giant marine plant of the genus ''

Posidonia ''Posidonia'' is a genus of flowering plants. It contains nine species of marine plants ("seagrass"), found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) accept this ge ...

'', '' Posidonia oceanica'' discovered in the Mediterranean near the Balearic Islands, Spain may be the oldest living organism in the world, with an estimated age of 100,000 years.Ibiza's Monster Marine Plant
. ''Ibiza Spotlight'' (2006-05-28). The largest individual flower in the world is ''

Rafflesia arnoldii ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', the corpse flower, or giant padma, Its local name is Petimum Sikinlili. It is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus '' Rafflesia'' within the family Rafflesiaceae. It is noted for producing the largest in ...

'', while the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

with the largest unbranched

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

in the world is '' Amorphophallus titanum.'' Both are native to

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Green algae

Green algae The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ...

are photosynthetic unicellular and multicellular

green plants Viridiplantae (; Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae ''Sensu#Common qualifiers, sensu stricto'') is a clade of around 450,000–500,000 species of eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms, most of which obtain their energy by photosynthesis. The green pla ...

that are related to land plants. The

thallus Thallus (: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. A thallus usually names the entir ...

of the unicellular mermaid's wineglass, ''

Acetabularia ''Acetabularia'' is a genus of green algae in the family Polyphysaceae. Typically found in subtropical waters, ''Acetabularia'' is a single-celled organism, but gigantic in size and complex in form, making it an excellent model organism for stud ...

'', can grow to several inches (perhaps 0.1 to 0.2 m) in length. The fronds of the similarly unicellular, and invasive '' Caulerpa taxifolia'' can grow up to a foot (0.3 m) long.

Animals

Fungi

The largest living

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

may be a

honey fungus ''Armillaria'' is a genus of fungi that includes the '' A. mellea'' species ('honey fungus') that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as ''A. mellea''. ''Armillaria'' sp. are long-live ...

of the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

Armillaria ostoyae ''Armillaria'' is a genus of fungi that includes the ''Armillaria mellea, A. mellea'' species ('honey fungus') that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as ''A. mellea''. ''Armillaria'' ...

''. A mushroom of this type in the

Malheur National Forest The Malheur National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. It contains more than in the Blue Mountains (Pacific Northwest), Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. The forest consists of Great Basi ...

in the Blue Mountains of eastern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, U.S. was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world, spanning of area and possibly weighing as much as 35,000 tons. This organism is estimated to be 2,400 years old. The fungus was written about in the April 2003 issue of the '' Canadian Journal of Forest Research''. It is not known, however, whether it is a single organism with all parts of the

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

connected. A spatial genetic analysis estimated that a specimen of ''Armillaria ostoyae'' growing over in northern

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States weighs 440

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

s (4 x 10⁵ kg). In ''

'', each individual mushroom (the fruiting body, similar to a flower on a plant) has only a stipe, and a pileus up to across. There are many other fungi which produce a larger individual size mushroom. The largest known fruiting body of a fungus is a specimen of ''

Phellinus ellipsoideus ''Phellinus ellipsoideus'' (formerly ''Fomitiporia ellipsoidea'') is a species of polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae, a specimen of which produced the largest fungal fruit body ever recorded. Found in China, the fruit bodies produce ...

'' (formerly ''Fomitiporia ellipsoidea'') found on

Hainan Island Hainan is an island province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally means "South of the Sea ...

.Walker, Matt. (2011-08-01
Giant fungus discovered in China
Bbc.co.uk The fruiting body masses up to . Until ''P. ellipsoideus'' replaced it, the largest individual fruit body came from '' Rigidoporus ulmarius''. ''R. ulmarius'' can grow up to , tall, across, and has a circumference of up to .

Lichen

'' Umbilicaria mammulata'' is among the largest lichens in the world. The

of ''U. mammulata'' is usually in diameter, but specimens have been known to reach in the

Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. The longest lichen is '' Usnea longissima'', which may grow to exceed in length.

Protists

(Note: the group

Protista A protist ( ) or protoctist is any Eukaryote, eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, Embryophyte, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a Clade, natural group, or clade, but are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic grouping of all descendants o ...

is not used in current taxonomy.)

Amoebozoans (
Amoebozoa Amoebozoa is a major Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group containing about 2,400 described species of Amoeba, amoeboid protists, often possessing blunt, fingerlike, Pseudopod#Morphology, lobose pseudopods and tubular mitochondrial cristae. In trad ...
)

:Among the organisms that are not

multicellular A multicellular organism is an organism that consists of more than one cell (biology), cell, unlike unicellular organisms. All species of animals, Embryophyte, land plants and most fungi are multicellular, as are many algae, whereas a few organism ...

, the largest are the

slime mold Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to a polyphyletic assemblage of unrelated eukaryotic organisms in the Stramenopiles, Rhizaria, Discoba, Amoebozoa and Holomycota clades. Most are near-microscopic; those in the Myxogastria ...

s, such as ''

Physarum polycephalum ''Physarum polycephalum'', an Multinucleate, acellular slime mold or myxomycete popularly known as "the blob", is a protist with diverse cellular forms and broad geographic distribution. The “acellular” moniker derives from the plasmodial s ...

'', some of which can reach a diameter over . These organisms are

unicellular A unicellular organism, also known as a single-celled organism, is an organism that consists of a single cell, unlike a multicellular organism that consists of multiple cells. Organisms fall into two general categories: prokaryotic organisms and ...

, but they are

multinucleate Multinucleate cells (also known as multinucleated cells or polynuclear cells) are eukaryotic cells that have more than one nucleus, i.e., multiple nuclei share one common cytoplasm. Mitosis in multinucleate cells can occur either in a coordinate ...

Euglenozoans (
Euglenozoa Euglenozoa are a large group of flagellate Discoba. They include a variety of common free-living species, as well as a few important parasites, some of which infect humans. Euglenozoa are represented by four major groups, ''i.e.,'' Kinetoplastea, ...
)

:Some euglenophytes, such as certain species of ''

Euglena ''Euglena'' is a genus of Unicellular organism, single-celled, flagellate eukaryotes. It is the best-known and most widely studied member of the class Euglenoidea, a diverse group containing some 54 genera and at least 200 species. Species of '' ...

'', reach lengths of 400 μm.

Rhizarians (
Rhizaria The Rhizaria are a diverse and species-rich clade of mostly unicellular eukaryotes. Except for the Chlorarachniophytes and three species in the genus '' Paulinella'' in the phylum Cercozoa, they are all non-photosynthetic, but many Foraminifera ...
)

:The largest species traditionally considered

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

are giant

amoeboid An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; : amoebas (less commonly, amebas) or amoebae (amebae) ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and r ...

s like

foraminifera Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are unicellular organism, single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class (biology), class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell bio ...

ns. One such species, the xenophyophore '' Syringammina fragilissima'', can attain a size of .

Alveolates ( Alveolata)

:The largest

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to flagellum, eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a ...

s, such as '' Spirostomum'', can attain a length over .

Stramenopiles ( Stramenopila)

:The largest

stramenopiles The stramenopiles, also called heterokonts, are Protist, protists distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attached to other areas of the cellular sur ...

are giant kelp from the northwestern Pacific. The floating stem of ''

Macrocystis ''Macrocystis'' is a monospecific genus of kelp (large brown algae) with all species now synonymous with ''Macrocystis pyrifera''. It is commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp. This genus contains the largest of all the Phaeophyceae or b ...

pyrifera'' can grow to a height of over . :Macrocystis also qualifies as the largest

brown alga Brown algae (: alga) are a large group of multicellular algae comprising the class Phaeophyceae. They include many seaweeds located in colder waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and polar reg ...

, the largest chromist, and the largest protist generally.

Bacteria

The largest known species of

bacterium Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the ...

is named ''

Thiomargarita magnifica '' Candidatus'' Thiomargarita magnifica is a species of sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacteria, found growing underwater on detached leaves of red mangroves from the Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, ove ...

'', which grows to in length, making it visible to the naked eye and also about five thousand times the size of more typical

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

described it as possessing the "size and shape of a human

eyelash An eyelash (also called lash) (Neo-Latin: ''cilium'', plural ''cilia'') is one of the hairs that grows at the edges of the top and bottom eyelids, spanning outwards and away from the eyes. The lashes grow in up to six layers on each of the upper ...

." ''Science'' published a new paper on the bacterium on June 23, 2022. According to a study coauthored by Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist and scientist at California's Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems, and an affiliate at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, ''T. magnifica'' can grow up to 2 centimeters long. *Cyanobacteria :One of the largest " blue green algae" is '' Lyngbya'', whose filamentous cells can be 50 μm wide.

Viruses

The largest virus on record is '' Megaklothovirus horridgei'', with the length of 4 micrometres, comparable to the typical size of a bacterium and large enough to be seen in light microscopes. It was discovered in 2018 (being mistaken for

bristle A bristle is a stiff hair or feather (natural or artificial), either on an animal, such as a pig, a plant, or on a tool such as a brush or broom. Synthetic types Synthetic materials such as nylon are also used to make bristles in items such as b ...

s beforehand), having been found on an arrow worm in the genus '' Spadella''. Prior to this discovery, the largest virus was the peculiar virus genus ''

Pandoravirus ''Pandoravirus'' is a proposed genus of giant virus, first discovered in 2013. It is the third largest in physical size of any known viral genus, behind Pithovirus and Megaklothovirus. Pandoraviruses have double stranded DNA genomes, with t ...

'', which have a size of approximately 1 micrometer and whose genome contains 1,900,000 to 2,500,000 base pairs of DNA. ''

'' infects amoebas specifically, however '' Megaklothovirus'' infects '' Spadella'' arrow worms.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

10 of the largest living things on the planet
Melissa Breyer.

TreeHugger ''TreeHugger'' is a sustainability website that reports on news, and other subjects like eco-friendly design, homes, and gardens. It was rated the top sustainability blog of 2007 by Nielsen Netratings, and was included in ''Time'' Magazine's ...

April 28, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Largest Organisms Articles containing video clips *