blue-green alga

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English

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one of the blue-green algae

Noun

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blue-green alga (plural blue-green algae)

  1. Any member of the taxonomic class or phylum Cyanobacteria; a primitive photosynthetic organism similar to bacteria which is thought to have generated the first oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
    • 1967, George K. Reid, edited by Herbert S. Zim and George S. Fichter, Pond Life, New York: Golden Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 31:
      Blue-green algae cells lack nuclei, and pigment is scattered.
    • 2023 August 23, Tommy Greene, “Lough Neagh ‘dying in plain sight’ due to vast algal blooms”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
      Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles, has been hit by recorded levels of potentially toxic blue-green algae that regional agencies say have not been seen since the 1970s.

Usage notes

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  • The term alga is now considered improper scientific usage, since true algae are eukaryotic organisms, rather than bacteria. It remains in common use among aquarists and others, however.

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