Taxa
Haptophyta
Phylum
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Haptophyta is a phylum of single celled, mostly marine, photosynthetic eukaryotes named for the haptonema, a distinctive thread like appendage found in most species that is used for attachment and prey capture rather than swimming. Haptophytes are a significant component of marine phytoplankton, and one order, the coccolithophores, produces microscopic calcium carbonate plates that after death sink to the seafloor and have formed enormous chalk deposits over geological time, making the group important to both the ocean carbon cycle and the geological record.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.