What is Cyanobacteria?
Cyanobaceria is a eubacteria that is a producer. They make their own food using carbon dioxide, water and energy from sunlight. It contains chlorophyll and another pigment that is blue. This pigmnet combination gives cyanobacteria the common name of blue-green bacteria. Some cyanobacteria are red, yellow or black. All species of cyanobacteria are one celled. Cyanobcertia can live in long chains or filaments called colonies. Cyanobacteria are important for food production in lakes and ponds.
Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes (single-celled organisms) often referred to as “blue-green algae.” While most algae is eukaryotic (multi-celled), cyanobacteria is the only exception. Cyanobacteria obtain their energy through photosynthesis. They are not strictly unicellular, but can be found in colonial and filamentous forms, some of which differentiate into varying roles. For example, cyanobacteria specialized for nitrogen fixation are called heterocysts. Cyanobacteria are very old, with some fossils dating back almost 4 billion years (Precambrian era), making them among the oldest things in the fossil record. They played a key role in increasing the amount of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. For almost 2 billion years, cyanobacteria and other prokaryotes were the only organisms on Earth, eukaryotes not having evolved yet. Conceivably, life on other plants, if it exists, may consist of prokaryotes and no eukaryotes. Due to their simplicity, prokaryotic cells are about 1000 times smalle
