Rolling along the ocean floor,
Slower even than snails,
Leaving distinctive trails,
Are creatures no on knew before.
In no hurry are they,
Moving one inch per day.
They're single-celled,
And they're self-propelled
In a most peculiar way.
They're spherical in shape.
So how do they escape,
These one-inch giant amoeba
Called Bahamian Gromia,
These delicate sea grapes?
Covered with ports,
They move by import and export.
Their fluid interiors
Contain resident bacteria
Which provide their support.
The news lines are buzzin'
'Cause they're seen by the dozen.
Like them, to roll
Might be the goal
Of their just-as-big cousins.
Their trails -- clearly they weren't
Just caused by the current.
How do we know?
If it were so,
They would be different.
And made, we are told,
Ere complex critters patrolled
Are trails exactly like these
Seen in rocks, if you please,
Five hundred million years old.
Scientists thought such a track
Requires a belly and a back.
Who could conceive of
A giant amoeba
With a rolling knack?
Now the scientists involved
Think perhaps the mystery is solved.
For the Gromia tends to persuade
That the ancient tracks were made
By a Gromia that revolved.
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