Valonia ventricosa, also known as "bubble algae" and "sailors’ eyeballs", is a species of algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 found in oceans throughout the world in tropical and subtropical regions. It is one of the largest single-celled organisms.

Environment

Valonia ventricosa typically grow individually, but in rare cases they can grow in groups, and they appear in tidal zones of tropical and subtropical areas, like the Caribbean, north through Florida, south to Brazil, and in the Indo-Pacific. Overall, they inhabit virtually every ocean throughout the world, often living in coral rubble.
The farthest depth for viability has been seen as approximately 80 m.

Physiology and reproduction

The single-celled organism has forms ranging from spherical to ovoid, and the color varies from grass green to dark green, although in water they may appear to be silver, teal, or even blackish. This is determined by the quantity of chloroplast

Chloroplast

Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...

s of the specimen. The surface of the cell shines like glass. The thallus consists of a thin-walled, tough, multinucleic cell with a diameter that ranges typically from 1 to 4 cm (0.393700787401575 to 1.6 in) although it may achieve a diameter of up to 5.1 centimetres (2 in) in rarer cases. The "bubble" alga is attached by rhizoids to the substrate fibers.

Reproduction occurs by segregative cell division

Cell division

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...

, where the multinucleic mother cell makes daughter cells, and individual rhizoids form new bubbles, which become separate from the mother cell.

Studies

Valonia ventricosa has been studied for its many interesting properties, such as the fact that the pores of V. ventricosa are absent of water. A study was conducted that showed that the properties of permeability in both osmosis and diffusion were identical. In studying the cellulose lattice, and its orientation in biological structures, Valonia ventricosa has undergone extensive X-ray

X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 analytical procedures. It has also been studied for its electrical properties, due to its unusually high electrical potential relative to the seawater that surrounds it.