User:Pooja srivastava/E-Museum/Protozoa

= Characterstics of Protozoans =


 * Protozoa are microscopic animals.
 * Protozoans are unicellular eukaryotic organisms and many of them are motile in nature.
 * Commonly range from 10 to 52 micrometers, but can grow as large as 1 mm, and are seen easily by microscope.
 * Body is naked or covered by pellicle( a thin layer supporting the cell membrane).
 * The cytoplasm is differentiated into outer ectoplasm and inner endoplasm.
 * Locomotry organ may be pseudopodia, cilia or flagella in different organisms.
 * Nutrition may be holophytic, hollozoic,saprozoic or parasitic.
 * Respiration occurs by diffusion through body surface.
 * Reproduction by both:-sexual or asexual .Sexual reproduction takes place by the process of conjugation( or syngamy).
 * They are found in 2 modes of life-Free Living, found in fresh and salt water and Parasitic, found as endoparasites on other animals.
 * Protozoa exist throughout aqueous environments and soil, occupying a range of trophic levels.

/some common examples of protozoa/