Euglena spirogyra

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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ralfwagner
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Euglena spirogyra

Post by ralfwagner »

Hello,

during my last holidays in the Lechtal Alps I origionally wanted to investigate some Desmids, but I couldn't find some interesting ones. Instead I found a nice Euglena spirogyra:

The first picture shows E. spirogyra focussed on the middle-part. Typical are the lengthwise spiral circulating rows of protuberances on the pellicle. Furthermore there are two large rings of paramylon visible, one anterior and one posterior to the nucleus.

Image

Objektive 100x/1.25 oil, oblique illumination (for a better presentation of the protuberances)

The second picture is focussed on the pellicle in order to emphasize the circulating rows of protuberances.

Image

The nucleus is between the two paramylon-grains. It is hardly visible in the two pictures above, but much more better in the following video. The video demonstrates also, that E. spirogyra shows only slight metaboly and is of slow motion. Also the short flagellum sometimes is visible.

Link to the video: http://www.dr-ralf-wagner.de/Bilder/Eug ... 2-divx.avi

objektive 40x/0.65, oblique illumination, DIVX-AVI-format, ~ 3 MB


enjoy!

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

Interesting little object, never seen one like that before!
Some interesting pictures (and videos) on your website too!
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Some geat photographs there Ralf. :D Any idea what the function of those protuberances are on the pellical? Can't say I have ran across these before but there are so many organisms out there, it would probably take ones lifetime to see them all. :wink:

ralfwagner
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Post by ralfwagner »

Ken,

I really do not know what the function of the protuberances is. But I assume, that they have no special function and are just a game of nature.

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Great Photos Ralf. Your two pictures show why it is called Euglena spirogyra. While I was looking for more info on this organism, I came across this site that has a SEM of the protuberances http://www.plantbiology.msu.edu/triemer ... ection.htm Very interesting creature :wink:
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

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