 The authors nonetheless concluded that it seemed likely the "Ornithocercus" were in effect growing their own “vegetables” and likely consuming the bacteria via a peduncle.They also found evidence that "Ornithocercus" may ingest ciliates, thus engaging in a multi-resource strategy to survive oligotrophic waters.An analysis of the genome of cyanobacteria associated with "O. magnificus" found that it had a reduced genome when compared to free-living cyanobacteria.