NEET 2020 Zoology Question 53 Solution
Question
Which of the following pairs is of unicellular algae?
- (1)Laminaria and Sargassum
- (2)Gelidium and Gracilaria
- (3)Anabaena and Volvox
- (4)Chlorella and Spirulina
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Which of the following pairs is of unicellular algae?
Chlorella (unicellular chlorophyte) and Spirulina (unicellular cyanobacterium/blue-green alga) are rich in proteins and used as food supplements even by space travelers. Laminaria/Sargassum are giant multicellular brown kelps; Gelidium/Gracilaria are multicellular red algae. Mark Option (4) in 5 seconds!
NCERT explicitly highlights: "Chlorella and Spirulina are unicellular algae rich in proteins and are used as food supplements even by space travellers."
Laminaria and Sargassum belong to Phaeophyceae (brown algae); they possess complex multicellular thalli (kelps reaching up to 100 meters) differentiated into holdfast, stipe, and frond.
Gelidium and Gracilaria are multicellular Rhodophyceae (red algae) harvested commercially for extraction of agar-agar.
Volvox is a colonial green alga (coenobium of thousands of cells connected by cytoplasmic strands), not a unicellular organism.
Diagnose every choice: Know exactly why the right option works and why distractors fail.
Incorrect; both are massive, multicellular brown algae (kelps).
Incorrect; both are multicellular red algae used for commercial agar extraction.
Incorrect; Volvox is a colonial alga (coenobium), not unicellular.
Factually exact; both are single-celled organisms cited in NCERT as unicellular algae utilized for single-cell protein.
Volvox is COLONIAL (consisting of 500 to 60,000 cells arranged in a hollow sphere called a coenobium). Only Chlorella and Spirulina are UNICELLULAR.
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