If you
thought it was cool how amoebae eat, you haven't seen
anything yet. Yes, it is true that they split in half.
But, it's much more than a quick *pop.* But, in case
you don't know, they way amoeba reproduce is by simply
splitting into two daughter amoeba, each a copy of
each other, and of the original amoeba.
After a few days of
the amoeba's tiny life, it will grow big. It is now
ready to divide. This division process is called
"fission." The amoeba will produce false feet, or
psuedopods, all around its body, just like when it
eats. Small organisms, called chromosomes, which live
inside the nucleus, line up across on either side of
the nucleus, and each thread in the nucleus splits in
two, one for each amoeba. Chromosomes carry the plan
for the amoeba, and make sure that an amoeba proteus
stays an amoeba proteus, and whatnot. After the
chromosomes line up, the nucleus splits in half. Then
the amoeba's body gets pinched, and it splits in half.
In less than an hour, two new amoebae are
formed.
What would happen
if an amoeba was split in half by something, other
than the way it is naturally supposed to, like if a
person split one? Different things would happen. First
of all, the nucleus would not split in two as it
normally would. One side would get the nucleus, the
other wouldn't. The side without the nucleus would
live for a day or so, but then it would die. The other
side would live normally. Sort of like a
worm.
If nothing stopped
them, amoebae would multiply so fast that they would
cover up the entire planet. But, amoebae have
predators, such as small fish and some shrimp.
Otherwise, an amoeba can live forever. Below are some
frames of an amoeba splitting.
