Nostoc with vorticella

[Charles Krebs]

I'm finishing up with my latest lake sample. I came across a dense bunch of vorticella attached to (what looks to me like) a clump of the cyanobacteria Nostoc.

Olympus BHS, 20/0.70 S Plan Apo, 1.67 NFK photoeyepiece, DIC illumination, Canon DSLR, Electronic flash.

[Retro]

That photo is absolutely spectacular Charles. I would gladly pay to hang it on my wall.

I have to confess... it was a photomicrograph on one of your early web pages, of a tiny moth which appeared to me as a beautiful bird, that resurrected this desire in me to try to capture to beauty of the micro-world I enjoyed so much in my youth.

Sincerely,
Jim

[Charles Krebs]

Jim,
Thanks for the gratifying comments... much appreciated. I've been a little surprised how many of us once played around with microscopes as kids, and after a long hiatus, have rekindled the interest.

[Gerd]

Hello Charles,
again a wonderful picture, indeed.
These blue alga look like microcystis flos-aquae for me.
I often found vorticellas attached to microcystis colonies when the blue alga are blooming.
Thank you for sharing,
kind regards,

Gerd

[Charles Krebs]

Hi Gerd,

Could well be! Thanks for the assistance!.

[René]

Hi Charlie, nice shot. This kind of symbiosis is quite common, but not much studied (as far as I am aware). Gerd probably had Anabaena flos-aquae in mind, not Microcystis. Without images of akinetes (resting spores) and heterocysts (nitrogen fixation cells) it's difficult to go to species in this genus.

Best wishes, Rene.

[Choronzon]

Jim,
I've been a little surprised how many of us once played around with microscopes as kids, and after a long hiatus, have rekindled the interest.

Charles, I know what you mean. I woke up one morning, and found I could no longer drive a Formula ! car, or be an NFL wide reciever, so back to microscopy it was.
Fantastic images, by the way.

[Jan Kros]

Hello Charles,

These vorticella live on Anabaena flos aquae and is called
Pseudohaplocaulus infravacuolatus.
It is a common algae in lake Constance

Greetings
Jan

[Charles Krebs]

Jan,

Thanks! You nailed the vorticella species.

Pseudohaplocaulus infravacuolatus... (Wow, that's a mouthful. Glad I can cut and paste these names )

Here's another web reference.

[ABEL]

¡¡¡That astonishes ¡¡

¡¡¡ I have never seen so many vorticellas with Nostoc ¡¡¡¡

Undoubtedly. I believe that the better thing is to find many united microbes