This article lists the largest
organisms for various types of life and mostly considers
extant species,[a] which found on Earth can be determined according to various aspects of an organism's size, such as: mass, volume, area, length, height, or even
genome size. Some organisms group together to form a
superorganism (such as
ants or
bees), but such are not classed as single large organisms. The
Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest structure composed of living entities, stretching 2,000 km (1,200 mi), but contains many organisms of many types of species.
When considering singular entities, the largest organisms are
clonal colonies which can spread over large areas.
Pando, a clonal colony of the
quaking aspen tree, is widely considered to be the largest such organism by mass.[1] Even if such colonies are excluded,
trees retain their dominance of this listing, with the
giant sequoia being the most massive tree.[2] In 2006 a huge
clonal colony of the
seagrassPosidonia oceanica was discovered south of the island of
Ibiza. At 8 kilometres (5 mi) across, and estimated at 100,000 years old,[3] it may be one of the largest and
oldest clonal colonies on Earth.[4][5][6]
Among
animals, the largest species are all
marine mammals, specifically
whales. The
blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived.[7] The living land animal classification is also dominated by
mammals, with the
African bush elephant being the largest of these.
The largest single-stem tree by wood volume and mass is the
giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), native to Sierra Nevada and California; it typically grows to a height of 70–85 m (230–280 ft) and 5–7 m (16–23 ft) in diameter.
The largest organism in the world, according to mass, is the
aspen tree whose colonies of clones can grow up to 8 kilometres (5 mi) long. The largest such colony is
Pando, in the
Fishlake National Forest in Utah.
A form of flowering plant that far exceeds Pando as the largest organism on Earth in area and probably also mass, is the giant marine plant, Posidonia australis, living in
Shark Bay, Australia. Its length is about 180 km (112 mi) and it covers an area of 200 km2 (77 sq mi).[8][9] It is among the
oldest known clonal plants, too.
Another giant marine plant of the genus Posidonia, Posidonia oceanica discovered in the Mediterranean near the Balearic Islands, Spain may be the
oldest living organism in the world, with an estimated age of 100,000 years.[10]
Green algae are photosynthetic unicellular and multicellular
protists that are related to land plants. The
thallus of the unicellular mermaid's wineglass, Acetabularia, can grow to several inches (perhaps 0.1 to 0.2 m) in length. The fronds of the similarly unicellular, and invasive Caulerpa taxifolia can grow up to a foot (0.3 m) long.[citation needed]
The
largest animal currently alive is the
blue whale. The maximum recorded weight was 190
tonnes for a specimen measuring 27.6 metres (91 ft), whereas longer ones, up to 33.6 metres (110 ft), have been recorded but not weighed.[11][12][13] It is estimated, this individual could have a mass of 250
tonnes or more.[14][15][16] The longest non-
colonial animal is the
lion's mane jellyfish (37 m, 120 ft).[17]
In 2023, paleontologists estimated that the extinct whale Perucetus, discovered in Peru, may have outweighed the blue whale, with a mass of 85 to 340 t (94–375 short tons; 84–335 long tons).[18] However more recent studies suggest this whale was much smaller than previous estimates putting its weight at 60 to 113 tonnes.[19] While controversial, estimates for the weight of the
sauropodBruhathkayosaurus suggest it was around 110–170 tons, with the highest estimate being 240 tons, if scaled with Patagotitan, although actual fossil remains no longer exist, and that estimation is based on described dimensions in 1987.[20] The upper estimates of weight for these two prehistoric animals would have easily rivaled or exceeded the blue whale.
The
African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest living land animal. A native of various open habitats in sub-Saharan Africa, males weigh about 6.0 tonnes (13,200 lb) on average.[21] The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in
Angola in 1974. It was a male measuring 10.67 metres (35.0 ft) from trunk to tail and 4.17 metres (13.7 ft) lying on its side in a projected line from the highest point of the shoulder, to the base of the forefoot, indicating a standing shoulder height of 3.96 metres (13.0 ft). This male had a computed weight of 10.4 to 12.25 tonnes.[11]
The largest living
fungus may be a
honey fungus[22] of the
speciesArmillaria ostoyae.[23]
A mushroom of this type in the
Malheur National Forest in the
Blue Mountains of eastern
Oregon, U.S. was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world, spanning 8.9 km2 (2,200 acres) of area.[24][25] This organism is estimated to be 2,400 years old. The fungus was written about in the April 2003 issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. If this colony is considered a single organism, then it is the largest known organism in the world by area, and rivals the aspen grove "
Pando" as the known organism with the highest living
biomass. It is not known, however, whether it is a single organism with all parts of the
mycelium connected.[25] Approximations of the land area of the Oregon "humongous fungus" are 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) (2,240 acres (910 ha), possibly weighing as much as 35,000 tons as the world's most massive living organism.[26]
A spatial genetic analysis estimated that a specimen of Armillaria ostoyae growing over 91 acres (37 ha) in northern
Michigan, United States weighs 440
tons (4 x 105 kg).[27][28]
In Armillaria ostoyae, each individual mushroom (the fruiting body, similar to a flower on a plant) has only a 5 cm (2.0 in) stipe, and a pileus up to 12.5 cm (4.9 in) across. There are many other fungi which produce a larger individual size mushroom. The largest known fruiting body of a fungus is a specimen of Phellinus ellipsoideus (formerly Fomitiporia ellipsoidea) found on
Hainan Island.[29] The fruiting body masses up to 500 kg (1,100 lb).[30][31]
Until P. ellipsoideus replaced it, the largest individual fruit body came from Rigidoporus ulmarius. R. ulmarius can grow up to 284 kg (626 lb), 1.66 m (5.4 ft) tall, 1.46 m (4.8 ft) across, and has a circumference of up to 4.9 m (16 ft).
Lichen
Umbilicaria mammulata is among the largest lichens in the world. The
thallus of U. mammulata is usually 4 to 15 cm (1.6 to 5.9 in) in diameter, but specimens have been known to reach 63-centimetre (2.07 ft) in the
Smoky Mountains of
Tennessee.[32]
The longest lichen is Usnea longissima, which may grow to exceed 20 feet in length.[33]
Protists
(Note: the group
Protista is not used in current taxonomy.)
Macrocystis also qualifies as the largest
brown alga, the largest
chromist, and the largest protist generally.
Bacteria
The largest known species of
bacterium is named Thiomargarita magnifica, which grows to 1 cm (0.39 in) in length,[40] making it visible to the naked eye and also about five thousand times the size of more typical
bacteria.[41]BBC News described it as possessing the "size and shape of a human
eyelash."[42]Science published a new paper on the bacterium on June 23, 2022.[43] According to a study coauthored by Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist and scientist at California's Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems, and an affiliate at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, T. magnifica can grow up to 2 centimeters long.[44]
The largest virus on record is Megaklothovirus horridgei, with the length of 4 micrometres, comparable to the typical size of a bacterium and large enough to be seen in light microscopes. It was discovered in 2018 (being mistaken for bristles beforehand), having been found on an
arrow worm in the genus Spadella.[46] Prior to this discovery, the largest virus was the peculiar virus genus Pandoravirus, which have a size of approximately 1
micrometer and whose genome contains 1,900,000 to 2,500,000 base pairs of DNA.[47]
^Paul, Gregory S.; Larramendi, Asier (11 April 2023). "Body mass estimate of Bruhathkayosaurus and other fragmentary sauropod remains suggest the largest land animals were about as big as the greatest whales". Lethaia. 56 (2): 1–11.
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doi:
10.18261/let.56.2.5.
ISSN0024-1164.
S2CID259782734.
^Anderson, A.; Sand, C.; Petchey, F.; Worthy, T. H. (2010). "Faunal extinction and human habitation in New Caledonia: Initial results and implications of new research at the Pindai Caves". Journal of Pacific Archaeology. 1 (1): 89–109.
hdl:
10289/5404.
^Dai, Y. C.; Cui, B. K. (2011). "Fomitiporia ellipsoidea has the largest fruiting body among the fungi". Fungal Biology. 115 (9): 813–814.
doi:
10.1016/j.funbio.2011.06.008.
PMID21872178.
^Cui, Bao-Kai; Decock, Cony (2013). "Phellinus castanopsidis sp. nov (Hymenochaetaceae) from southern China, with preliminary phylogeny based on rDNA sequences". Mycological Progress. 12 (2): 341–351.
Bibcode:
2013MycPr..12..341C.
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^Brodo, Irwin (2001). Lichens of North America. New Haven: Yale University Press.
ISBN978-0-300-08249-4.
^"Usnea longissima". lichen.com. Lichens of North America. Archived from
the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
^Barthélémy, Roxane-Marie (8 January 2019). "Serendipitous Discovery in a Marine Invertebrate (Phylum Chaetognatha) of the Longest Giant Viruses Reported till Date". Biology.