MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I was out with the boat collecting samples from a local lake and was surprised to get a huge amount of diatoms. Many which I have never encountered before. I dragged it after the boat for about 5 minutes just below the surface. My daughter was more interested to use the collecting device as a hat. I need to get her a microscope of her own...

All images taken using a 60X water immersion objective. (well, not the first two which were taken with an air immersed Iphone)






Diatom - Tabellaria Fenestra by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr


Diatom - Tabellaria Fenestra by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr


Diatom - Tabellaria Fenestra by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr


Diatom - Asterionella by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr

Beautiful colonies, expertly photographed ... Many thanks for sharing these.

MichaelG.
.

https://diatoms.org/citations/hassall_a ... bitants_of
https://diatoms.org/species/asterionella_formosa

Here's a nice copy of the famous illustration from Hassall's little book:
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/p52tgvzt

Fascinating!
Is the red photo - fluorescence ? the same diatoms as in the first DIC photo?

Your DIC images are great again!
Where in Sweden do you live? I was twice paddling in vintage folding kayaks in the area south on Västervik with my family. It was very impressiv to move between these many small uninhabited islands and then stay the night in tiny tents on one of them.

Hobbyst46 wrote:Fascinating!
Is the red photo - fluorescence ? the same diatoms as in the first DIC photo?

Yes, fluorescent light. The red is the chlorophyll auto-fluorescing. Not very exciting as an image as such, but it clearly revealed 4 strings of chloroplasts in each diatom in the colony. If you look at the DIC images it looks like some of these only have 3 strings of chloroplasts. I do not know why some had 3 and some 4 but I am sure some of you have a good explanation. Perhaps different species? The first one looks more "robust" than the ones next to each other.

MicroBob wrote:Your DIC images are great again!
Where in Sweden do you live? I was twice paddling in vintage folding kayaks in the area south on Västervik with my family. It was very impressiv to move between these many small uninhabited islands and then stay the night in tiny tents on one of them.

I live in Stockholm. Västervik is in the southern parts of Sweden. Very beautiful place. Sweden has a very long coast line and have literally tens of thousands of small islands. They laws in Sweden allow anyone to use land for hiking, sleeping in tents, etc. You can even collect berries and mushrooms as much as you like without asking for permission from the land owner. Sort of unique, but valuable for people who enjoy being out in the nature.

I don't want to hijack your thread, but here are some pictures of the area were we were. It is a very fairy-tale like landscape and you wouldn't be stonished to meet a dwarf or elf there. Staying 3 weeks away from civilisation is expedition and holiday combined, especially with children aboad, so one should be well prepared. My wife since then always has an eye on the comfort level of the holiday trips I suggest.