A Choanoflagellate colony and its symbiotic bacteria

This illustration depicts a large choanoflagellate colony from Mono Lake with five different symbiotic bacteria residing inside the colony. The choanoflagellates are shown in grey surrounding the large biomass of bacteria found in the center. The blue strands stretching between choanoflagellate cells is the extracellular matrix that tethers the choanoflagellate cells together. Inside the colony, you see an array of bacteria of different size, shape, and color representing the diversity of bacteria that can be found here. Certain bacteria only grow in specific regions of the interior of the choanoflagellate colony (red, the center of the bacterial biomass; purple, the exterior of the bacterial biomass) while other bacteria can be found diffuse through the center of the choanoflagellate colony (orange, light green, and dark green).