Bacteria display a wide diversity of shapes and sizes, called morphologies. Bacterial cells are about one tenth the size of eukaryotic cells and are typically 0.5–5.0 micrometres in length. However, a few species–for example Thiomargarita namibiensis and Epulopiscium fishelsoni–are up to half a millimetre long and are visible to the unaided eye. Among the smallest bacteria are members of the genus Mycoplasma, which measure only 0.3 micrometres, as small as the largest viruses.Some bacteria may be even smaller, but these ultramicrobacteria are not well-studied.Most bacterial species are either spherical, called cocci (sing. coccus, from Greek kókkos, grain, seed) or rod-shaped, called bacilli (sing. bacillus, from Latin baculus, stick). Elongation is associated with swimming. Some rod-shaped bacteria, called vibrio, are slightly curved or comma-shaped; others, can be spiral-shaped, called spirilla, or tightly coiled, called spirochaetes. A small number of species even have tetrahedral or cuboidal shapes. More recently, bacteria were discovered deep under the Earth's crust that grow as long rods with a star-shaped cross-section. The large surface area to volume ratio of this morphology may give these bacteria an advantage in nutrient-poor environments. This wide variety of shapes is determined by the bacterial cell wall and cytoskeleton, and is important because it can influence the ability of bacteria to acquire nutrients, attach to surfaces, swim through liquids and escape predators.