Do bacteria really crawl?

From the saying "crawling with bacteria," if dirty water sits in the sink, will bacteria actually crawl out onto surrounding surfaces?

Do bacteria really crawl?
Nope.





'Crawling with bacteria' is the same as 'loaded with bacteria', but it sounds more dramatic and disgusting, as if bacteria are crawling bugs (which are high on the list of things people don't like).





Bacteria are far too small to be able to use legs in the form that we are used to. They have no muscles to power legs, and on a surface, the simple forces of nature, like static and surface tension, would make crawling impossible for them.
Reply:they don't they have special organells for locomotion like flagella and cilia.
Reply:Bacteria is a prokaryotic cell.............prokaryotes DO have flagellum therefore they are capable of movement. Bacteria do have flagellum and are capable of movement.





Hpwever in the content that you are describing, bacteria usually will reproduce and expand the surfaces it is on, therefore increasing its surface area and spreading.
Reply:some bact are motile but some are not.
Reply:Cells move for a variety of reasons. Bacteria swim by beating their flagella in order to exploit newly created micro-environment and amoeba crawl to gather bacteria to feed on. The cells of vertebrates must move to heal wounds, fend off invaders and the eukaryotic flagella is used to propel sperm cells toward eggs.








Speed (mm/sec)





Bacteria


10


Ciliate


1,000


Amoeba proteus


3


Neutrophil


0.1