Nutrition in Amoeba: Amoeba is a microscopic single celled organism, which is found in pond water. It is a very simple animal and cannot be seen by naked eyes. Amoeba has a cell membrane, a rounded dense nucleus and many small bubble-like vacuoles in its cytoplasm. These vacuoles are of two types, i.e. food vacuole and contractile vacuole. Food vacuole contains food surrounded by water while contractile vacuole contains liquid or water and controls water regulation activity in Amoeba. Its shape is not fixed, i.e. it constantly changes its shape and position. The body of Amoeba has finger-like projections, called pseudopodia or false feet. It captures food and helps in locomotion of Amoeba.

The food of Amoeba is microscopic organisms like tiny plants and animals present in pond water. When Amoeba senses its food, it pushes out pseudopodia around the food particle and engulfs it. The two pseudopodia join around the food particle and trap the food particle with a little water forming vacuole around food, thus the food gets trapped. Digestive juices present inside the vacuole, acts on the food and break it into simpler substances. This digested food is then absorbed and is used for growth, maintenance and multiplication of Amoeba. The undigested food residue is expelled outside by the vacuole. The basic process of digestion of food and release of energy is a similar to the other organisms.