Scientists baffled by discovery of bacteria that ought to be too big to function

Imagine visiting a mangrove in the Caribbean and discovering a human as tall as Mt. Everest.

Something like that happened to marine biologist Jean-Marie Volland — except instead of a human, he stumbled upon a species of giant bacteria.

In fact, “giant” may be an understatement. The long, stringy microbes Volland found are more than 5,000 times larger than typical microscopic bacteria that play a vital role in ecosystems all over the planet.

The newly discovered species is so big that it’s easily visible to the naked eye. Some specimens measure up to 2 centimeters in length, the…