RADIOLARIO

What a surprise we found analysing the samples from the Mariana Trench! A minuscule insect beat its wings, suspended on our microscope’s slide. It was, no more and no less, a radiolario! The mythical ocean beetle officially declared extinct since 1932. Well here it was, scarcely 4 microns in size, flickering black eyes and a playful air; with those ever-so-graceful, feathery wings with which it tracks the depths of the ocean at full speed thanks to its characteristic oval shell. Without a doubt, the creature is unique: it feeds only on fossils and its once every leap year its females lay a single egg, almost as big as themselves!