 Another study found that "Ornithocercus" has a nitrogenase gene ("nifH") which supports the idea of additional nitrogen fixing heterotrophic symbionts, allowing the possibility that the bacterial garden hosted by "Ornithocercus" provides fixed carbon and nitrogen for the host.Food vacuoles have been observed inside "O. magnificus" with remnants of cyanobacterial symbionts enclosed.In one study, some of the numerous food vacuoles observed inside "Ornithocercus" species strongly resembled the ectosymbionts in size and colour but were too degraded by section preparation to confirm via transmission electron microscopy.