MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Happy springtime folks, good doggie and I collected from a gentle flowing stream bank, filaments of algae. Doggie jumps into the thick of things in most of our microscopy collection hikes. This instance I lament the fragile yet beautiful

diatom structures on the algal filaments which doggie disrupted. As a child I once falsely told a teacher: 'the dog ate my homework'...but here in forum I insist: 'doggie disrupted the diatoms'.

Please enjoy this stream collection hike.

The elegant diatom assemblages on the algae filaments...in flowing water mind you...spark many questions for me. Please all ponder these assemblages and offer comments when you have the time.

How did these 'adult' diatoms organize on algal filaments in flowing waters? These diatoms are all of relatively the same size...have they 'overwintered' somewhere in the stream community...are these diatoms 'older' than the algal filaments which only appeared after ice-thaw? Did one solitary diatom anchor on the algae filament with that evident anchor-plug of secreted material...then wait for companion diatoms to join this 'anchorage'?

Years ago, with me in this stream collecting before a dog jumped in, I once at bench observed large and unique assemblages on this benthic diatom, genus: Meridion. Ruffled rows after row of this diatom...as if walking through an orchard with wavy plant rows. These Meridon diatoms gave a golden-green felt cover to bottom stream pebbles.

Great work!

Very interesting and beautiful, Charlie. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, Sabatini and Javier for your comments, thanks all for looking at this collection hike of a fingerlakes/US stream.

Conditions after ice cover melts with freshwaters change so rapidly...observe and enjoy your freshwaters collected promptly if time allows...communities of organisms assemble certain ways, at certain times!

I really enjoy encounters with (relatively large) huge prokaryote bacteria in stream waters. I fancy, but never took the effort to culture these huge bacteria.

Spring'22 stream collection gratifying for good-doggie and me,

Wonderful ciliates I cherish to first encounter...plenty of time to latter ID these stream neighbors of mine.

And with this same body-form...a much larger ciliate with a complex anterior oral apparatus.

Be safe all, thanks for shared forum microscopy, charlie guevara