So here are a couple pictures of what I saw, thought maybe some of you might be interested to see a classic example of diatom slime as it appears in the wild: as a golden-green, or golden-brownish-green, colored slime coating.So I'm driving along minding my own business and notice a muddy flat exposed by a low tide. As I have done many times, I stop to take a closer look, and this time see patches of golden brownish greenish looking slime on the surface of the muck. Diatoms!
I once heard a naturalist describe diatoms and being primarily responsible for the super slippery slime-covered rocks often encountered in rivers and lakes, and that if you've ever busted your fanny while wading, then you probably slipped on diatoms!
This slime may be scrubbed or scraped off of whatever it was found on, or as in this case, skimmed off the top of the mud below. Which means you can actually do a little diatom farming if you like: just place something made of glass or plastic or other smooth material in some water and let it grow a slime coating, then scrub or scrape your slime off and examine it. For diatom cleaning and making permanent slides, see Rod's excellent "Doing Diatoms" thread at:
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