World's largest bacterium found in Caribbean swamp

Scientists have discovered the world's largest bacterium in a Caribbean mangrove swamp. Most bacteria are microscopic — but this one is so big it can be seen with the naked eye.

The thin white filament, approximately the size of a human eyelash, is "by far the largest bacterium known to date," said Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of a paper announcing the discovery Thursday in the journal Science.

Olivier Gros, a co-author and biologist at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana, found the first example of this bacterium — named Thiomargarita magnifica, or "magnificent sulfur pearl" — clinging to sunken mangrove leaves in the archipelago of Guadeloupe in 2009.