You are...

Salinispora tropica!

That's incredible! You are Salinispora tropica!

You and S. tropica share a taste for "eating out" - this microbe feeds on live bacterial cells and organic debris instead of making its own food. Similar to your fondness for the color purple, this microbe stains purple when rinsed in crystal violet dye which is used to study a microbe cell wall structure.

Also, S. tropica is just as unlikely as you are to "hold its breath" for very long because it requires oxygen to survive. Soon after its discovery in 1991, it was found that this amazing microbe produces important anticancer compounds!

Photo credit: Eric Gontang, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, SIO

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