Melosira, Biddulphia & Odontella Diatoms

[KurtM]

I've been sampling at the Texas City Dike lately, a 5 mile long spit of land jutting out into Galveston Bay near its entrance from the Gulf Of Mexico. It's impossible not to be captivated and delighted by the long golden chains of Melosira, and zig-zag Biddulphia diatoms. Then I ran across a new one to me: Odontella, either O.aurita or O.mobiliensis, I believe.

All images through the Olympus BHS BH-2, 40/.95 Splanapo, DIC

Reference: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.3775325 ... 676,14.75z

[Hobbyst46]

Great photos, KurtM !

[75RR]

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Gold mine! 3 fascinating diatoms in abundance - get in there with the 63x :)

[zzffnn]

Beautiful, Kurt!

Complete Odontella may be difficult to mount and preserve, as they look quite delicate?

Are those single shots, not stacked?

I need to go to that Texas City Dike some day. It is also well known for windsurfing, fishing and birding too.

[75RR]

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Third diatom Odontella mobiliensis ?

[Greg Howald]

I think 75rr is correct. I've only seen one other before.
Greg

[LouiseScot]

Lovely pics!

[Francisco]

Very nice!

[Wes]

Beautiful images Kurt! Thanks for sharing.

[KurtM]

Thanks for the kind comments, all! Yes, O. mobiliensis looks about right to me too.

The images are all stacks, and some post processing has been done, mostly to adjust light levels and local contrast (sharpening) plus other tweaks if I think it helps.

The Texas City Dike is a fantastic resource, quite popular with wind surfers, para-surfers, kite surfers, sailboats, wave runner/jet ski, and just plain beach-aping & swimming. Also a mecca for birding and fishing, and likely a few other leisure pursuits I'm forgetting. But the thing is, it never gets so crowded that traffic becomes a problem, as it often does for nearby Galveston Island. Of course we locals avoid all those places on weekends during the summer half of the year.