Sea sparkle

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Jan l'Amie
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Sea sparkle

Post by Jan l'Amie »

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.


Image
Image

Mitch640
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Post by Mitch640 »

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

Jan l'Amie
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Post by Jan l'Amie »

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

Pau
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Post by Pau »

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?
Pau

Jan l'Amie
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Post by Jan l'Amie »

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

Image

Planapo
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Post by Planapo »

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
Last edited by Planapo on Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jan l'Amie
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Post by Jan l'Amie »

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

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