Product Description

Chaos is a genus of amoebae, in the family Amoebidae. The largest and best known species, the so-called “giant amoeba” Chaos carolinense, can reach lengths of 5 mm, although most specimens fall between 1 and 3 mm. Chaos species are versatile heterotrophs, able to feed on bacteria, algae, other protists, and even small multicellular invertebrates. Like all Amoebozoa, they take in food by phagocytosis, encircling food particles with its pseudopodia, then enclosing them within a food ball, or vacuole, where they are broken down by enzymes. The cell does not have a mouth or cytostome, nor is there any fixed site on the cell membrane at which phagocytosis normally occurs.