coccus

1. A bacterium having a spherical or spheroidal shape.
2. Botany. A division containing a single seed that splits apart from a many-lobed fruit.

[New Latin, from Greek kokkos, grain, seed.]

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Pl. cocci [L.] a spherical bacterium, usually slightly less than 1 μm in diameter, belonging to the Micrococcaceae family. It is one of the three basic forms of bacteria, the other two being bacillus (rod-shaped) and spirillum (spiral-shaped). Almost all of the pathogenic cocci are either staphylococci, which occur in clusters, or streptococci, which occur in short or long chains. Both staphylococci and streptococci are gram-positive and do not form spores.

For the insect, see cochineal.

Staphylococcus bacteria

Cocci is one of the three types of shapes of bacterias: cocci (spherical), bacilli (rod-shaped), and spirella, (spiral-shaped)

References

External links

• Bacteria Picture Gallery

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