A marine diatom from the Northsea

Franz Neidl · Post by **Franz Neidl** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 8:38 am

I think this is a Diatom - not a Radiolar.

Franz

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:48 am

Thanks, I'll change the title.

BJ · Post by BJ » Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:06 am

Hi Jan and Franz,

I do not often get the opportunity these days to join you on the forum, but I am enjoying your marine postings.

This is a diatom, but an unusual view. It is a valve view of a single cell of a species of Bacteriastrum - I think that Franz posted a very nice view of a Bacteriastrum chain some time back.

As the setae lie in one plane, it could be either B. delicatulum or B. furcatum - but I am unable to decide which species. The cell has an unusually large number (18) of setae.

thanks for an unusual and crisp photo

best wishes

Brian

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:21 am

Franz and Brian thanks for the comments. I found quite a lot of them in the sample I took last sunday at the Dutch Northsea coast.
Here a picture of a (I think) more complete one.

I also found some with the setae turned, so with the forked site against the ,,body,,. I will try to make a picture of one.

Greetings from the Netherlands
Jan

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:30 am

Jan,

A very different perspective! This is one of those cases where the unusual angle of the photograph provide a very different appearance from what we customarily see, and adds a great deal of information to help us understand the morphology of the subject. (Thank you BJ for adding valuable identification info).

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 12:37 pm

Thanks very much for the nice comments.