differences between filaments and colonies

Filaments and colonies are two different forms in which some organism exist. The difference between two can be explain by taking an examples of algae.

• Green algae or Cyanobacteria may be single-celled or colonial. Individual cyanobacteria are very small and usually just single cells, either round, ovoid, or string like in shape. Some types grow in colonies that can be large. Colonies may form filaments.
• In Colonial algae, groups of cells working together and show division of labor.

• Filamentous algae have slender, rod-shaped thallus arranged in rows joined end-to-end. They have a specialized structure called as holdfasts that attaches the algae. So, it can grow toward sunlight at the surface.