Pyrocystis fusiformis

[leonardturner]

Although this organism has been described as non-motile, the young do have flagella which they apparently lose during their short life cycles. It would be reasonable then to expect some differential mobility, and I think that is what we are seeing here. This flash-illuminated stack of 73 images of Pyrocystis in a well slide show some as quite static, and others with a variety of of movements (as might be expected from an organism with eccentrically mounted "propulsion units.") Mitty 5X, Raynox, Nikon 810

Leonard Turner

[GaryB]

That's a very interesting shot. I love the strobe effect of the motile ones.

Thanks for the upload

[leonardturner]

Thanks, Gary. I must say I had no preconception of the results of this stack; one of the many pleasures of this game is getting to see things that you otherwise wouldn't, and the sometimes surprising outcomes. I have an ongoing culture of these organisms, and have examined a good many of them but have yet to recognize a flagellum. They are described as lying in two different planes, so I would suspect a variety of types of movement are possible.