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Amoeba
Quiz
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Greetings,
once again. This page is about how amoeba move. You
many think, "What? So they move? What's there to
learn?" There is LOTS to learn about amoeboid
movement, or locomotion. So how does a liquidy,
sloppy, one celled bacterial organism move, anyway?
Well, as you know, they can change shapes. So, in
order to move, they extend something called a
"pseudopod" from their body. Pseudopod means "false
foot." It extends forward, and lands on the bottom of
the pond. The rest of the amoeba flows into it. The
psuedopod usually comes from the front of the amoeba,
but amoebae don't stay in one direction for very long.
Usually you would find the psuedopod of an amoeba go
up into the water and then back down, as opposed to it
going straight along the bottom of the pond. Sometimes
a psuedopod will go straight up in the air, and the
amoeba will flip upside down, which isn't a major
concern, as amoebae don't have a right side up or
upside down. Some amoebae move by squeezing the
cytoplasm from their back, which creates a psuedopod,
just like a toothpaste tube. When psuedopods form, the
rest of the amoeba is undisturbed. Even though the
amoeba and its movement patterns have been studied for
more than 200 years, scientist still have many
questions unanswered. How does an amoeba know where
its going? Well, it doesn't, but it can 'sense' things
around them, like a sixth sense. It can sense when it
is floating in water, or when it is on land. Since
amoebae can't swim, they will quickly reach a false
foot down to rest on the pond floor.
What will happen to
an amoeba if it encounters an obstacle in its path?
First, it will try to climb over it. If it is
unsuccessful, it will try to go around it. If it can't
do that either, it will go somewhere else, since
amoebae don't plan where they go, and it doesn't
matter to them. If an amoeba finds something sharp, a
crystal of salt, or some sort of acid floating in the
water, it will move away as fast as possible. Some of
the amobae's movements and behaviors are very
peculiar, and we still have a lot to learn about it.
Below is a movie of a moving amoeba.
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