I am working on a genera frequency project in California Rivers. We go out and collect and document algal diversity in our system and I keep coming across the same looking organism, but attempts to key it have proved difficult. The photos were taken with 400X zoom. I don't know if this is an early stage of growth for an organism, or if it is just a fragment. Any help would be wonderful.
We are talking about diatoms. The "cross-shaped" may simply be two cells that happen to cross. Can this page be of help? https://diatoms.org/morphology
That is a very helpful webpage. I don't believe this cross shaped specimen to be a diatom. We have been seeing this in grab samples and in plankton samples in the river. We see this frequently, but we can't figure out if this is a vegetative state of some green or yellow-green genus. Could it be a fungi or part of a vascular plant? Did I post this discussion to wrong message board?
On closer inspection, do the crosses appear to be colonies of cells? The shape can be an adaptation to limit sinking.
I agree the added surface area appears to be a strategy. I am unsure about the colonial aspect, but I have been surprised before. I wasn't sure if this organism has a parietal chloroplast or not (n which may help narrow down the possibilities. I have attached photos from our most recent sampling event, but I have seen this beautiful little mystery in almost every sample and sample type.
Gary, please ask a mycologist for his opinion. Looks as a fungus to me.
Thank you! from that suggestion I think I have narrowed it down to a hyphomycete. Possibly a spore of Clavariopsis aquatica which makes sense to me as it colonizes leaf litter and I have found these in river samples.
En efecto coincido en que es un conidio de hifomiceto, muy parecido a Lemonniera aquatica.
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