A Multitude of Microbes in the Oceans

There are many life forms in the sea for us to admire. Some are cute, others mysterious, and there are those than most of us can only see with videos because they are way down yonder where untrained and unprotected people cannot go. There are also billions, even trillions, at the microscopic level.

Structure of a Myovirida bacteriophage
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Chelsea Bonnain, Mya Breitbart and Kristen N. Buck (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There a billions of viruses out there, too. No, don't be getting all nervous on me. The only viruses we hear about are the few that get into news reports. Most are harmless to humans, and some are even important to life. They are everywhere, including within each of us. the ocean is also full of bacteria. They reproduce. Our Creator designed a control mechanism with bacteriophages.

Viruses are found virtually everywhere, especially in the world’s oceans where their numbers are astounding. In just a few drops of surface seawater there can be as many as 10 to 100 million of them per milliliter. Marine microorganisms, including viruses, make up about 70% of the oceanic biomass, and all those tiny creatures together are called the marine microbiome. Biologists estimate marine viruses are in concentrations of approximately three billion per ounce of seawater.

You can read all of this short article by clicking on "An Ocean of Viruses".



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