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BLUE-GREEN ALGAE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Predominantly photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms containing a blue pigment in addition to chlorophyll; occur singly or in colonies in diverse habitats; important as phytoplankton
Synonyms:
blue-green algae; cyanobacteria
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("blue-green algae" is a kind of...):
eubacteria; eubacterium; true bacteria (a large group of bacteria having rigid cell walls; motile types have flagella)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "blue-green algae"):
nostoc (found in moist places as rounded jellylike colonies)
trichodesmium (large colonial bacterium common in tropical open-ocean waters; important in carbon and nitrogen fixation)
Holonyms ("blue-green algae" is a member of...):
class Cyanobacteria; class Cyanophyceae; Cyanophyceae (photosynthetic bacteria found in fresh and salt water, having chlorophyll a and phycobilins; once thought to be algae: blue-green algae)