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Colorless microflagellates (6–14 μm in diameter) were isolated from an oligotrophic lake in Western Canada, and shown to consume diatoms up to six times longer than the diameter of the flagellate. Observations were also made of morphologically similar flagellates attached to diatoms from the Great Lakes, indicating that this phenomenon may occur in nature. It is suggested that predation by microflagellates on much larger algal cells could potentially affect the pathway of nutrient and energy transfer in aquatic foodwebs.
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Suttle et al. (1986) studied this question.
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