smallest creature?

[the>one]

can someone settle an arguement.....the smallest living thing?

[Sasha13]

I always thought it was an ameoba (sp?)

[steveb]

i believe it's 'nanobes' found on Australian sea beds, they are between 20 and 150 nanometers in diameter, there ismuch disute over whether they truly are creatures, after this however there are mycoplasmas which are creatures and are typically 300 nanometers in diameter

[jimmer]

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep2001/1001464156. Gb.r.html

[Calvesy]

Pushing the definition of life, viruses are typically 30 - 300 nanometres, much smaller than the wavelenths of visible light. Prions are self-replicating protein molecules maybe a few nanometres long, like the ones that cause CJD, BSE and fatal diseases in cannibals. If these were discovered on a comet or on the frozen wastes of Mars it would be headline news for weeks, but how organised must organic chemistry be to become alive?