Filamenious algae - internal movements?

spongepuppy · Post by **spongepuppy** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 5:14 am

I have been observing algae in polarized light, and have noted that some filaments display quite vigorous internal activity, as depicted in the video below (approximate frame width 0.6mm):

http://vimeo.com/102374167

Can anyone shed some light on the nature of this movement? Is it an internal cellular process, or perhaps some sort of invasive organism?

Ichthyophthirius · Post by **Ichthyophthirius** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 6:30 am

Hi Matt,

This is cytoplasmic streaming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn9kyXC7fuQ Most of the cell content of these algae (and indeed most plant cells) is made up of vacuoles. The cytoplasm is a small portion of the cell content. You can see it moving in thin strings round the cell in your video http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasmic_streaming.

Ichthy

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:38 pm

Nice video