The Myxozoa are a group of microscopic, single-celled, parasitic animals. Originally taxonomists classed them as protozoa, and included them with other non-motile forms in the group Sporozoa. However, as their distinct nature became clear they gained their own phylum. Evolutionary theorists now generally consider them to have developed from multicellular animals and classify them accordingly.

The Greek roots of the name myxozoa express the ideas of "slime" or "mucus" (myx-) and "animal" (zo-).

Many Myxozoa have a two-host lifecycle, involving a fish and an annelid worm or bryozoan. Infection occurs through valved spores. These contain one or two sporoblast cells and one or more polar capsules that contain filaments which anchor the spore to its host. The sporoblasts are then released as a motile form, called an amoebula, which penetrates the host tissues and develops into one or more multinucleate plasmodia. Certain nuclei later pair up, one engulfing another, to form new spores.

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