I have algae in a sample from a freshwater lake. There are several single filaments that I thought were mougeotia because of the shape of the cell wall and the twisted chloroplasts. I have recently found the same type on the slide but it has branches. That has me confused again. The branches sometimes have the same type of cells coming off and other branches are smaller node-like filaments instead of distinct cells. Each nodes of those portions each have a brown/red spot inside. Previously (in other slides/samples) I had seen several of these node-like filaments on their own and had not identified them. This is the first time that I found the node-like filaments attached to/ branching off of the filament that looks like mougeotia. I will try to add a picture to this later once my camera is charged but in the mean time if anyone can throw out some possible names for me to search down I'd appreciate it. I keep hitting a dead end. I did look up mougeotia conjugation and it doesn't look the same.
The picture attached is one of these described above. I tried to get close enough to see both the mougeotia-type cells and the node-like cells but it meant that you can't directly see their attachment to the main strand.
Dear Robin,
Your specimen is not in terrific shape. I think live material will be needed to get an accurate ID. If more material is found, get photos of fresh (green) filaments, and re-post.
Best regards,
John Wehr
Thanks John. I know its in pretty rough shape and I guess I should have explained why. Unfortunately its the only sample I have and I can't get more or fresh/live samples. The lake is ~7,700 miles from my location. These samples were in very rough shape because they were extracted from the gut of a fish(an algivorous cichlid), preserved in gluteraldehyde and then stored in a refrigerator for 3 years. It's one of the reasons I'm struggling with identifications.....I just have to work with what samples I have unfortunately.
That's fine - understood. In cases like (e.g. poor quality or few cells to view) that I tend to be conservative in my IDs. So I tend to aim toward common taxa, unless proven otherwise. If the specimen was truly branched, then maybe it is Stigeoclonium. If true branches cannot be verified, then there could be many candidates. My view of your photo didn't immediately look like Mougeotia-like chloroplasts. Maybe "unknown?"
- JDW
Thanks. I looked at Stigeoclonium pictures and compared to other sections of the slide. I don't' think its that because of the way the main filament looks. I have switched to 'unknown green" but it's one of those things that will drive me crazy. lol. Thanks for the input. If I can get a better picture of where the chloroplasts look twisted, I'll post it here. They didn't look as twisted in this photo as in other fields but this field was the best at showing the branching.
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