Answer:
Cell type:
- The cell is a nerve cell, also known as a neuron.
Characteristics:
- The dendrites (tentacle-like structures) were the most helpful characteristic to identify the cell.
- Furthermore, the other dendrites in the background were helpful, since dendrites are used by neurons to both send and receive signals (oftentimes to and from other neurons themselves), which is why we see other dendrites next to this main neuron in the picture.
- The central cell body was somewhat helpful in identifying the type, but not nearly as helpful as the dendrites coming off the cell body.
Cell function:
We can say that neurons have about three main functions:
- First, they receive signals (information).
- Second, they process the signal to decide whether the information should be conveyed to other neurons.
- Third, they send signals to other cells (e.g,. different neurons or muscle cells) through special mechanisms called neurotransmitters, which travel from one neuron to another across these neuron gaps called synapses to another part of anneuron called a receptor.