Aphanizomenon flos-aquae

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:00 am

I stopped by a small lake today and found the surface covered by an algal bloom. Looking at a sample under the microscope it appeared to be the cyanobacteria ("blue-green alga") Aphanizomenon flos-aquae.

At low magnification I was struck at how strongly the "clumps" of strands reminded me of Japanese hiragana and katakana characters.

A closer look with the 100X objectives shows the characteristic configuration.

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:43 am

Looks great! Yeah, paint brush streaks of East-Asian art or calligraphy that´s what it reminded me of instantly too, and without having read your text. (I always tend to scroll down to the pictures first before reading.

)

The 3rd photo shows nicely what I reckon are some heterocysts, characterized by the bigger size, where nitrogen fixation takes place.

--Betty

Aynia · Post by **Aynia** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:26 am

First two are really pretty. I think I prefer the one with the black background.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:24 pm

... a few more cyanobacteria "brush strokes"

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:56 pm

Beautiful Charlie.

Craig