VOLVOCID

any rounded, plantlike protozoan of the phytoflagellate order Volvocida. Common in fresh water, volvocids often colour ponds and ditches green. Some are classified by botanists as green algae (Chlorophyta). Typical forms have a central nucleus and usually two to four flagella protruding from an opening in the anterior end of the closely fitting cellulose (or mineral and cellulose) theca-i.e., test, or shell. Chromatophores contain green pigments. Some species (e.g., Haematococcus pluvialis and Chlamydomonas nivalis) that cause red snow-i.e., give snow a reddish hue-have an additional red pigment, hematochrome. Size may be less than 25 micrometres (0.001 inch) in solitary forms, such as /a>Chlamydomonas (q.v.), or 1 mm (0.039 inch) in colonies, such as /a>Volvox (q.v.). Volvocids may be photosynthetic, may obtain nutrients by absorption, or may combine both methods. In asexual reproduction (by longitudinal division) newly formed organisms remain in the parent membrane for a while. Sexual reproduction also occurs. Colonies vary from loosely associated flat disks of similar organisms (Gonium) to the complex arrangement of Volvox.