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A large 20-cm wide Xenophyophore. Xenophyophores are single cell animalscalled protists. As benthic particulate feeders, xenophyophores normally siftthrough the sediments on the sea floor. and excrete a slimy substance; inlocations with a dense population of xenophyophores, such as the bottom oftrenches, their density may be as high as 2000 per 100 square meters.