Snottite

Quick meaning: Snottite is a noun meaning (bacteriology) A colony of single-celled extremophilic bacteria that hangs in a sheet (having the consistency of snot or nasal mucus) from the ceilings of some caves like stalactites.

Meaning

(bacteriology) A colony of single-celled extremophilic bacteria that hangs in a sheet (having the consistency of snot or nasal mucus) from the ceilings of some caves like stalactites.

Example Sentences

[Page 14, column 1] This expedition also began investigating the acidity of drips from snottites in the cave. […] [Page 15, column 2] Inspection revealed that the "snottites" are communities of microbes similar to microbial mats commonly associated with sulfur-rich surface springs, but these colonies are suspended vertically.

We worked our way past the gypsum bank to a small, snottite-laden room around a corner from it. A few days earlier, Martin and his crew had filmed Diana sampling a snottite here as she discussed the strangeness of multiple life forms adapting to such an extremely acidic microenvironment. The snottites held perhaps hundreds of strange microbial species wrapped in gypsum crystals, and also small spiders and gnats that ranged freely up and down them, appearing wholly unperturbed by the acid.

Word Forms

• snottites

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include subtroglophile, stygiobiont, trogloxene, cavernicole, nostoc, speleomycology.

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