Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

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mrsonchus
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Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#1 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:26 pm

Hi all, a few images to share.
As most know, my area is Botanical, but I've been rummaging through some rarely-opened drawers and boxes in my lab with a view to tidying-up (or at least trying to...).
Anyway I found an old slide with Diatoms on it that I must have acquired with some of the old mixtures I occasionally buy just to 'have a look'... They're not arranged, but are in a 'big mixed slab' as it were, in what I think those here call a 'strew'?

Here are a few images, all with a little PP - mainly a light sharpen and 'cleanup' of the rather mucky background. Using a dry 60x 0.9 objective - I don't have the glorious DIC (couldn't get close to affording this I'm afraid) that produces such incredibly sharp images often seen here, but with brightfield, a little oblique, addidtion of a green 550nm interference filter and shooting in mono, I'm happy-enough with these few.
I don't know the ID/s of these but do plan to add some measurements of their features today; any ideas appreciated.

First one - apologies for the relatively basic images....
Image

Oblique makes this one look concave - I've no idea if this is simply an artefact or an accurate representation of the Diatom's form?
Image

Same type I think.....
Image

Here's a broken one, again no ID I'm afraid.
Image

A bit of oblique/darkfield.
Image

Not sure of the accuracy again of the apparent structure, but interesting.
Image

Measurements - hopefully correct....
UPDATE - WRONG MEASUREMENT - TOO SMALL BY FACTOR OF 4! SORRY.... SEE LATER REVISED VERSION.
Image

Another nteresting view - is the form real though, or an artefact of capture and PP?
Image
Last edited by mrsonchus on Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
John B

Hobbyst46
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#2 Post by Hobbyst46 » Fri Aug 21, 2020 3:07 pm

Very nice images !
The distance of 2.98 um indicates a very high density of stria (~39/10um).

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75RR
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#3 Post by 75RR » Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:03 pm

Picking up some very nice detail - the dark side will get you yet!
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#4 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:31 pm

75RR wrote:
Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:03 pm
Picking up some very nice detail - the dark side will get you yet!
ARRRGGHHHHH! Never - leaves for ever! (although these Diatom-thingies are quite nice...)

Thanks both for your comments.
John B

MicroBob
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#5 Post by MicroBob » Fri Aug 21, 2020 6:09 pm

Hi John,
with a tungsten carbide knife it might be possible to section them and very little work has been done on staining them! :D

Bob

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#6 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Aug 21, 2020 6:36 pm

MicroBob wrote:
Fri Aug 21, 2020 6:09 pm
Hi John,
with a tungsten carbide knife it might be possible to section them and very little work has been done on staining them! :D

Bob
Help-me!
Bob, you are bonkers! :D
John B

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#7 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:49 pm

Aha! I thought the measured diatom was a little small....

I think I must have cropped the image while PP.
Here's what I think is the uncropped and correctly-measured version - 4x the size at 80+µ (oops :oops: )
Image

Anyone have any ID ideas please?
John B

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#8 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:51 pm

Hobbyst46 wrote:
Fri Aug 21, 2020 3:07 pm
Very nice images !
The distance of 2.98 um indicates a very high density of stria (~39/10um).
I think you're right! It seems I may well have cropped this one during PP - see revised measurement of 85µ....
John B

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#9 Post by mrsonchus » Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:07 am

Here's another one - trying-out ToupView's measuring features again.
Image
John B

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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#10 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Aug 22, 2020 9:40 am

Cheers!

The first one (the elongated) looks very much like Navicula digitoradiata

Longueur : 88 microm.
Largeur : 13,8microm.
10-11 stries / 10 microm.

(from a collection of Mediterranean diatom photos).

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#11 Post by mrsonchus » Sat Aug 22, 2020 10:24 am

Hobbyst46 wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 9:40 am
Cheers!

The first one (the elongated) looks very much like Navicula digitoradiata

Longueur : 88 microm.
Largeur : 13,8microm.
10-11 stries / 10 microm.

(from a collection of Mediterranean diatom photos).
Looks very, very like it Hobby' - here's a link with a good likeness...
It also seems to have an appropriate (species) name!

Many thanks!
John B

Hobbyst46
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#12 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Aug 22, 2020 10:31 am

Thank you, John B for the link to this BC site!
It helps a lot to see diatoms as found by simple optical microscopy, together with their ID.
Page saved.

mazo4033
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#13 Post by mazo4033 » Sun Aug 23, 2020 1:14 pm

Beautiful photos!

Sabatini
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#14 Post by Sabatini » Sun Aug 23, 2020 3:02 pm

Very pleasant images

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mrsonchus
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Re: Old Diatom Slide From Drawer

#15 Post by mrsonchus » Sun Aug 23, 2020 4:28 pm

Many thanks all, very kind comments. :D
John B

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