The "water net", Hydrodictyon

[tlansing]

This is the common freshwater alga Hydrodictyon, also know as the water net. This alga can form very large, net-like colonies of interconnected cells; I have had them grow in the collection jars by my window. The cells also have large vacuoles. I am showing a photo taken with DIC (objective is a 40x Neofluar, optovar set at 2x) and one with phase (40x Neofluar PH2, optovar set at 2x). Microscope is a Zeiss Photomicroscope III.

Hydrodiction_DIC.jpg (93.1 KiB) Viewed 611 times

Hydrodiction_phase.jpg (109.13 KiB) Viewed 611 times

[DonSchaeffer]

These are really neat pictures. What does this look like with the naked eye?

[tlansing]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your comment. When you pull a sample out, you can tell it is mesh-like and not individual strands like other filamentous algae. Usually you also have to tear off a big from a larger mass to place on a slide for observation.

Tim