Pandorina Morum

[hkv]

Green Algae - Pandorina Morum I assume. 20X objective. 46 stack. DIC.
The colony is held together by a surrounding gel (mucilage). Each internal cell has two flagella and an eyespot. The colonies coordinate their flagellar movement to create a rolling, swimming motion. Finally after the water started to dry out, the rolling stopped and I could shoot a stack.

[75RR]

Beautiful image, captured the mucilage nicely - like the paler background as well. Do you have a size for it?

46 stack.

That is a lot (very good stack by the way) but then it would need a large number to capture so much depth.

Each internal cell has two flagella and an eyespot.

Think I can make out the eyes in some! :)

[hkv]

Beautiful image, captured the mucilage nicely - like the paler background as well. Do you have a size for it?

46 stack.

That is a lot (very good stack by the way) but then it would need a large number to capture so much depth.

Each internal cell has two flagella and an eyespot.

Think I can make out the eyes in some!

Have not calculated the size, but at 40X I could just fit it in the field of view of the camera. The 20X view looked better so I went for that. I think 46 was overkill. I would most likely have looked equally good at 10 frames. Normally, I rather shoot deep stacks to be sure I have enough. If it is moving a lot, I go for fewer images. If it is a rather stationary subject I shoot more.

The image is really a combination of several stack depth. The internal cells are rendered with the full stack. The mucilage is rendered with a subset of 6 images. I just selected those images that had the mucilage in focus. The other ones just messed up the final results. Then I combined the two with the retouching tool in Zerene. The color of the background is the true color. I just cleaned away a few spots and artefacts from crawling smaller critters that give you black streaks in the image as the move between frames.

[Johann]

That is a stunning image! Nicely done.

[gekko]

I agree with all of the above: very beautiful image with great detail, considering that the size of the individual Pandorina morum cells is tiny (between 7 and 17 µm; I googled it).

[75RR]

(between 7 and 17 µm; I googled it)

Found a link that mentions 50µm but they look a little different so not sure if that figure applies.

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/pdb/images ... index.html

[gekko]

I misremembered: it was 8 to 17 µm but for the individual cell, not the colony. I used the same website:
http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/pdb/images ... orum6.html

[75RR]

Do they look a little different to you as well? Perhaps we should just go with Pandorina sp.

[gekko]

Do they look a little different to you as well? Perhaps we should just go with Pandorina sp.

I took hkv's identification at face value. My "expertise" in identification is such that I can assert that it is an alga, and probably a colonial alga . There are quite a few algae that look very similar and are similarly small that I would not dare venture beyond that .

[hkv]

Hmm, yes. I think you may be correct. My identification skills are not the best either. Pandorina sp. is perhaps a safer bet. The identification I did was based on a book I have about "life in ponds and lakes in Scandinavia". But, when looking at the pictures on the internet, I am not so sure anymore.

I do a better job distinguishing Chardonnay from Zinfandel.

[JimT]

HKV,

I do a better job distinguishing Chardonnay from Zinfandel.

Me too

Regardless that is a very nice image.

JimT

[vasselle]

Bonjour
Très belle photo
Cordialement seb

[McConkey]

Wow, excellent image! Amazing detail! I might have missed a previous post where this information is available but what scope/objectives are you using? Your DIC images are very impressive!

[hkv]

Can this be a better identification? I found this in a book:

Protozoological Monographs - Wilhelm Foisser and Martin Kreutz.

It is an excellent book!

Looks VERY similar. Eudorina Elegant.

[hkv]

Wow, excellent image! Amazing detail! I might have missed a previous post where this information is available but what scope/objectives are you using? Your DIC images are very impressive!

The scope is an Olympus BX51. I have UplanFl-Ph 5-100X, UplanSAPO 5-100X and MPlan/LMPlan 1.25-100X

If I remember correct, this algae was shot with the UplanSAPO 20X.