# What's your favorite microbe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413 "2009-01-22T05:19:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/41 "2009-01-24T00:20:31Z")
[spyrogyra](http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/library/webb/BOT311/Chlorophyta/SpirogyraBig500.jpg) if it hasn’t been mentioned yet (I didn’t check all the links). Awfully pretty. [H. pylori](http://www.hpylori.com.au/hpylori-16.png) is pretty cool, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/42 "2009-01-24T00:28:52Z")
Slime mould amoebae are pretty damn cool. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/43 "2009-01-24T00:38:43Z")
Yeah, the [ebola has a certain simple beauty.](http://www.h2orobots.org/images/ebola.jpg) But I’m surprised [no one has suggested this](http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4605/farsideme0.jpg) yet. [This one might draw some unwanted attention.](http://baby4you.co.nz/images/Sperm_Morphology.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/44 "2009-01-24T00:46:31Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > You could go Agent Smith and use a picture of a stinking mass of humanity. Heh…I think I might have to slip a picture of a crowd of people in there somewhere. And maybe a chuck o’ binary code of a computer virus or somethin’… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/45 "2009-01-24T00:52:46Z")
I’d go for [microcystis](http://www.btinternet.com/~stephen.durr/microcystist.html) and/or [anabaena.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaena) They don’t get the love because they can create algae mats. They’re interesting critters, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jezka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eada6e/32.png) [@Jezka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jezka)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/46 "2009-01-24T00:59:26Z")
[Blepharisma](http://www.dr-ralf-wagner.de/Bilder/Blepharisma-10.jpg). It really is that pink. I once had a summer job at university lab at which I would sit a dissecting scope all day and count protozoans as they would zip around. The more distintive the species the better! [Stentor](http://www.dr-ralf-wagner.de/Bilder/Stentor_igneus-stitch.jpg) is another cool one. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/47 "2009-01-24T02:31:51Z")
You can never go wrong with the [coxsackievirus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsackievirus). ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/48 "2009-01-24T02:41:30Z")
I love watching [Trichomonas vaginalis](http://www.btinternet.com/~ukneqas.parasitologyscheme/Faecal_Scheme/Teaching_Information/Protozoa/Flagellates/Non-pathogenic_flagellates/trichomonas.JPG) [swim around](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1PFJXuJUs) (second link goes to YouTube video) in a urine specimen. Watching them wiggle around… they’re adorable! But I don’t want any. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/49 "2009-01-24T14:48:32Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I love watching [Trichomonas vaginalis](http://www.btinternet.com/~ukneqas.parasitologyscheme/Faecal_Scheme/Teaching_Information/Protozoa/Flagellates/Non-pathogenic_flagellates/trichomonas.JPG) [swim around](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1PFJXuJUs) (second link goes to YouTube video) in a urine specimen. Watching them wiggle around… they’re adorable! But I don’t want any. I think it’s probably a bad thing, how exciting it is to get a positive vaginal swab for trich in a lab, but it is, dammit! “We’ve got swimmers!” ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/50 "2009-01-24T15:03:54Z")
The indestructible [tardigrade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade), photogenic superhero of the microscopic world. They are technically referred to as “polyextremophilic,” which in this case means that they can live anywhere except in molten lava. Boil 'em, they laugh. Freeze 'em, they yawn. Nuke 'em, they giggle like the Pillsbury Doughboy. They can live in the deepest ocean trenches; they can live for years while totally dehydrated. We shot them into space, exposed them to vacuum for over a week, and they came back saying “Oh! That was a bit different wasn’t it? I seem to be able to stretch my limbs further now, how extraordinary!” THEY CAN LIVE IN OUTER SPACE. Even worse, they’re cute. [Just look at these little buggers.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hypsibiusdujardini.jpg) Their common name is “water bear,” which means that they’ve somehow managed to evolve a marketing strategy. You know your kids would want to collect them all. At least one species has been named after a Tolkien character. Worship them now while you have the chance. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413/51 "2009-01-24T16:23:46Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Even worse, they’re cute. Oh my gosh, they \*are \*cute! I swear, [the first little guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Waterbear.jpg) on the wiki page is doing a Buddha-belly laugh, isn’t he? They’re like, manatee cute! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-microbe/482413.md?page=2)