MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Here on the north shore of Lake Ontario, spring comes a little late, in some years held back by thawing lake ice. The bedrock on this island is limestone shale, formed between successive glacial events over some very ancient and steep mountains, which farther east and north rise to the surface as the Canadian Shield. The whole of the island has one 2 acre protrusion of a granite peak, pushing 50 ft. above the depression it underpins, like an upside down strawberry in the middle of a plate. This shape is an informing characteristic of the entire are, which is more or less like a giant 1000 sq. km. plate, rising a couple of hundred feet above the lake in the N.E., with the edge tipping into the lake in the S.W. . As one descends the gentle grade into the center, numerous swamps appear, most being held up from rapid drainage by depressional areas in the bedrock, which can be surprisingly close to the surface. Many are seasonal but some of the larger ones, persist throughout the season except in some of the frequent parched summers we encounter. They come alive late and usually freeze in the winter, although this past winter was an exception.

Yesterday, I skirted one of the swamps on another task and had a look for some of the first algae films, scooping one up from about 3 feet out with stick. A nice big glob. Usually, I take the water temperature too but didn't have a thermometer with me.

some nice samples with many unique to me. I haven't looked any up yet but here is what I found.

A very nice report. Are those with the flagella mobile ?

A few more.

Hobbyst46 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 07, 2020 11:52 am

A very nice report. Are those with the flagella mobile ?

Very much so. The water is yet, quite cold but those that were moving , were right at it. There were some dino flagellates as well( picture 7). The larger movers , seemed to all be chlorophyll bearing.

Always nice when the ponds starts to come back to life! The vase shaped organism is likely a golden algae called Dinobryon.





Golden Algae - Dinobryon by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr

What is the scale of each of the "vases" in Dinobryon. The vase shaped sections in the samples I collected are about 20 microns in length. I observed no internal structures, except what I observed below.

In pictures, # 4, #5' where a vase structure contains large inclusions, they appear to be single flagella bearing organisms that are in the throat, simiar to what I see in your DIC image. . I observed them for about 2 or 3 minutes and the flagella did not move once. Possibly, Zoospores?

apochronaut wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:23 pm

What is the scale of each of the "vases" in Dinobryon. The vase shaped sections in the samples I collected are about 20 microns in length. I observed no internal structures, except what I observed below.

In pictures, # 4, #5' where a vase structure contains large inclusions, they appear to be single flagella bearing organisms that are in the throat, simiar to what I see in your DIC image. . I observed them for about 2 or 3 minutes and the flagella did not move once. Possibly, Zoospores?

Cells are around 20 um long and 10 um wide. There is a single flagella coming out at the top that is used to pull the entire colony towards the light. Small eye-spot in each cell. I have some videos of the them as well where the flagella is whipping somewhere on the hard drive. I think the zoosphores are the small green balls you can see in the DIC picture. Not 100% sure about that, but makes sense.

Thanks, Håkan. Seems like what I have. There will no doubt be billions of them soon. Almost like a colony of Euglena, if I understand correctly.

Beautiful. Thank you.

apochronaut and HKV very beautiful photos!! Good work!//KD

Your photography is excellent. You have been practicing my friend!

I don't clean my sensor but thanks, Everett.