A single-celled microbe doubles its size to eat its clones
When food supplies dwindle, the microscopic Euplotes gigatrox transforms into a supergiant hunter that stalks and swallows its own genetically identical neighbors.
In the waters of Curacao, a newly discovered species of ciliate named Euplotes gigatrox has revealed a survival strategy that blurs the line between simple microbes and complex predators. While these single-celled organisms typically spend their lives filtering bacteria from the water, they possess the ability to undergo a radical physical transformation. When their primary food source becomes scarce, roughly five percent of the population spontaneously morphs into a cannibalistic supergiant.
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