Desmidium swartzii, stacked

ralfwagner · Post by **ralfwagner** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 7:12 am

Hello,

Desmidium swartzii consists of several triangular shaped cells. Each single cell is twisted a bit agains its neighbours. Therefore it is difficult to get a sharp fotograf of that algae.

First an unstacked overview:

And here a closer look, stacked with CombineZ5, 6 pictures:

Now the distortion of the single cells against its neighbours is visible.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:24 pm

I have seen this algae many times in textbooks and other photograrphs but have never encountered it myself. Great looking images there Ralf.

ralfwagner · Post by **ralfwagner** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:38 am

Hello Ken,

wonder tnat you never found a Desmidium. It is not seldom and worldwide spread. Everywhere you can find some Desmids you usually find a Desmidium, too. Together with Zygnema and other filamentos algae, preferably in a moor land.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:20 am

I have found desmids before but not this particular one, however that is not to say that there are not any of this particular species in my area, it is just that I have never found them, however I will be keeping my eye out for them on my next collection outing.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:24 am

That is a very sharp looking Desmid Ralf, it shows the twist very well in your photos.