Diatom

Diatoms are microscopic algae which build beautiful sparkling cell walls out of silica, the same thing glass is made of. There are lots of different species of diatoms, and they come in all kinds of shapes: squares, rods, circles, triangles, and even stars. Each of the printable holiday decorations you see here represents a different species.

Although they're tiny, diatoms are extremely important to life on Earth, since they're one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Plankton is the microscopic life of the sea, made up of lots of different types of creatures. Phytoplankton are the ones which make their own food using the energy of the sun. Almost all the energy that powers us (and every other living thing that can't make its own food) comes from this process, known as photosynthesis. "Primary producers" like diatoms and plants convert the sun's light into things we can eat, yum!

Almost half of the primary producers in the sea are diatoms, so they're an important starting point for lots of ocean food chains. Without them lots of larger sea creatures (and the creatures that eat them) would starve. Photosynthesis also produces a bit of oxygen as a waste product, and diatoms and other phytoplankton produce most of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. So, we've got them to thank for the fact that we can eat and breathe, two things that often come in handy!