Where do amoebas live?

Since their discovery, in 1757, amoebas have been found living in almost every imaginable aquatic habitat. They are endemic in fresh water, salt water, rivers, creeks and streams. Some amoebas can be found in morning dew, while others are parasitic and live in the bodies of other organisms.

Where they live in standing bodies of water, amoebas tend to gather near the bottom in or near the mud. This affinity for wet sediment carries over to terrestrial amoebas, which thrive in moist soil. When their environment dries out or otherwise becomes hostile, many species of amoeba react by forming a cyst and hibernating until conditions improve.