Amoeba was first discovered by Roesel Von Rosenhof in 1775. It is regarded as the
simplest of all animals, since its body consists of minute transparent asymmetrical specks of
protoplasm having a nucleus but without permanent organelles. It is widely distributed and
commonly found in the ooze or bottom mud in fresh water pools, ditches, lakes and slow
streams, often in shallow water on the undersides of aquatic vegetation. The side of lotus ponds
and the water trough are common source for their collection.
Amoeba is a unicellular microscopic animal and measures about 250 to 600 microns or
1/100 inches. It appears as an irregular colorless and translucent mass of protoplasm with fingerlike projections from the body in all directions .These are called Pseudopodia. It keeps changing
its shape in one direction and withdrawing in other direction. They are broad to cylindrical with
blunt rounded tips and are composed of both ectoplasm and endoplasm. Its body is covered by
very thin delicate plasma membrane called plasma lemma; these have adhesive properties and
serve to bind animalcule to the substratum. Inside the plasmalemma is a dense mass of cytoplasm
having several organelles .It is differentiated into an outer ectoplasm and an inner endoplasm
.Ectoplasm is thin clear (non granular) and hyaline layer while endoplasm forms the main body
completely surrounded by the ectoplasm. Endoplasm is made up of the outer stiff plasmagel and
inner more fluid plasmasol. Endoplasmic organelles include a single conspicuous nucleus, a
contractile vacuole which circulates with in endoplasm. Along with this, numerous food vacuoles
are found scattered in the endoplasm. These are non-contractile and are of the different size
.Digestion of food takes place inside the food vacuole. Other organallies like E.R, Ribosome,
Golgi body, mitochondria, lysosome are also found inside endoplendoplasm
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