Early naturalists referred to amoeba as the Proteus animalcule, after a Greek god who could change his shape.
The bacteria eating the rice will be eaten by the amoeba, thus increasing the population and making them easier to find.
Entamoeba histolytica, however, is a parasitic amoebozoa that negatively impacts the human body, resulting in the infectious disease known as amebiasis.
The word amoeba is also used to refer to both this genus and its close relatives, now grouped as the "Amoebozoa," as well as to refer to all unicellular organisms that move by pseudopods.
Amoebas are popularly considered to reproduce asexually by splitting into two parts, similar to the cell division (mitosis followed by cytokinesis) in multicellular eukaryotes.
Amoebas, in the narrowest sense of the word (the genus), are found in freshwater, typically on decaying vegetation from streams, but are not especially common in nature.
A good method of collecting amoeba is to lower a jar upside down until it is just above the sediment surface.
Amoebas are characterized by the pseudopodia, which are used in both transportation and digestion.
During adverse conditions, amoebas can enter a temporary encysted stage, as a result of eliminating water and adding a protective coat.
The most famous amoeba species, A. proteus, is 700–800 ?m in length, but many others are much smaller.