What on earth is this?

[thomas.schwarz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EafSYUveU

???

[daruosha]

I'm not an expert at all, but I guess they are Tabellaria diatoms.

[Hobbyst46]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EafSYUveU

???

A very nice and intriguing view.

[thomas.schwarz]

Thanks!

....Any idea why they have evolved to join at the corners? And why does it go roughly from bigger to smaller? Are new members born exclusively at one end and die excludively at the other? Links about their lifecycle?

[Hobbyst46]

Thanks!

....Any idea why they have evolved to join at the corners? And why does it go roughly from bigger to smaller? Are new members born exclusively at one end and die excludively at the other? Links about their lifecycle?

Indeed some Tabellaria images on the web look like yours, although the sizes do not vary as yours do.
When diatoms reproduce by division, the new diatom is smaller than its predecessor, and so on.
So wild guess: the gradual decrease in size along the chain is due to consecutive division, in series.

[Charles]

Tabellaria grow in colonies so the different sizes you see is because of where it 'lets go' and 'hinges' from it's neighbor. Some of those have 3-4-5 in a bunch. Sometimes you only see one tabellaria in a 'bunch' and they form a 'star' shape.

[75RR]

Tabellaria grow in colonies so the different sizes you see is because of where it 'lets go' and 'hinges' from it's neighbor. Some of those have 3-4-5 in a bunch. Sometimes you only see one tabellaria in a 'bunch' and they form a 'star' shape.

Agree. Your squares are actually joined together narrow rectangles, which sometimes disconnect and just hold on by a corner. (I am sure there is some technical jargon that covers this)

[KD Arvidsson]

Very beautiful! I dont no if Tabellaria is common everywhere but here in Sweden i have found it several times in samples from different ponds! Great work //KD