Radiolarians
Radiolarians
Radiolarians are microscopic unicellular protozoa that live in the worlds oceans. There are an astounding variety of the life forms that was first documented by the German naturalist Ernst Haeckel. He was also an artist, and produced a great collection of art in the form of drawings and illustrations inspired by microscopic and macroscopic life forms. Radiolarians, similar to diatoms, produce a silica skeleton which is preserved after the organism dies. Like the life form, there is an incredible array of these intricate structures that have been captured by light microscopes and scanning electron microscopes. This is a growing body of work inspired by radiolarians. I found a great resource on radiolarians online and the folks that maintain the site were very kind to feature some of my work on their site. Check out the organization Radiolaria.org.