Very Strange Diatom

Frez · Post by **Frez** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:22 pm

I'm totally in the dark on this one. It's a current sample from Newburyport, MA. It was obtained from Bill Daily a few years ago and was in a small plastic vial. It would be awesome if somebody could figure this one out. The rest of the sample contains many examples of Navicula lyra. This was done with Hoffman Modulation and a 40x objective. It's killing me that it's a wet mount so I'm going to image it with multiple techniques.

TIA
Frez

Found a second one:

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:58 am

Beautiful images, especially the top left. I can't help with identification, but I might tentatively suggest that this unusual assymetric structure is the result of incomplete division fossilised in time.

René · Post by **René** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:21 am

Hi Frez, you said it yourself, Navicula (Lyrella) lyra, with a disability. Happens a lot in culture, have seen raphes of Nitzschia's gone all over the place. Not really strange, bit rare.

Nice to see your work back on line,

Best wishes, René

Frez · Post by **Frez** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:58 pm

Hi Rene

That makes sense. It shares a strong resemblance to N. lyra. I wonder if it was shunned by its peers.

Thanks!
Frez

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:48 am

This, maybe aberrant, form has more resemblance to a lyre (lyra in latin) than the normal form

Very beautiful COL image!