Are navicula diatoms epiphytes or epipelic?
wikipedia: Navicula is a genus of boat-shaped microbes (microorganisms) that are a type of Phytoplankton or algae — primarily aquatic, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms, ranging in size from a single cell. Navicula is a diatom. The Navicula genus of diatoms comprises more than 10,000 species. wikipedia: An epiphyte is: “. . . a plant that grows upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object (such as a building or a telegraph wire), derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone (as many mosses, liverworts, lichens and algae) and in the tropics (as many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads) — called also air plants.”[1] wikipedia: epipelic – living on or in fine sediments, such as mud or sand (Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ) how could aquatic creatures be epiphytes?
