The Chrysomonadina (syn. Chrysophyceae) are small flagellates with yellow-brownish plastids. This is due to the overlay of chlorophyll a by fucoxanthine. Two flagellae with unequal length originate at the anterior side, the longer of which is applied with two rows of stiff mastigonemes while the shorter has only few hairy extensions. To survive inactive periods, chrysomonads make endocysts bearing a single cell. Energy storage material is chrysolaminarin (= polysaccharide leukosine) or oils, not starch. In case of food scarcity, some species can switch to heterotropic mode, making pseudopods to phagocyte other small protists. Chrysomonads are inhabitants of both, limnic and marine systems. There are speculations putting chrysomonads as the basic group for color-less flagellates, rhizopods and multicellular algae.