Let’s meet bacteria!

Bacteria are prokaryotic organisms, and can be found in all shapes and sizes.

Some look like wotsits, some are round and ball-shaped, some are quite squiggly. They can be single bacteria or they can form chains or clumps.

A rod is often called ‘bacillus’ (bass-ill-us), or ‘bacilli’ (bass-ill-eye) in its plural form. A round bacterium is a ‘coccus’ (cock-us), or ‘cocci’ (cock-eye) if there is more than one.

See some of the more common bacterial shapes below. Click on the pictures to find out what types of bacteria grow in these shapes.

What everyday objects do you think they look like?