Sea sparkle

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:27 am

This about 1 mm dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans I found in the sample of seawater from the Dutch coast of the Northsea.
These cause the glowing of the sea by bioluminescence.
When I tap with my finger against the sample in total darkness I see a lot of green firework sparkles. Very nice to see.

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:21 am

Very nice Jan. What is the organ in #2, if you know? Is that the light emitter?

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:01 am

It's a kind of syphon or flagella that moves constantly.

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:26 am

May be the 2nd image a "tadpole" larva of a tunicate?
Just the following stage to the embryo:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=14861
If you google for tunicate larva images you can find someones looking very similar. Do yo have more images of it?

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:49 am

No, it's a part of the dino that hangs under the body.

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:12 am

The longish appendix is Noctiluca's tentacle that, according to the literature, is used for the ingestion of food particles.

But I can see why Pau is thinking of tunicata, in the second pic the tentacle and its rooting in the body strongly reminds of a tunicate larva , or an adult of the Tunicata: Appendicularia.

--Betty

Jan l'Amie · Post by **Jan l'Amie** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:16 am

And that's the reason of constantly moving I think.