Thursday 14 January 2021

Which diatoms do we see here?

The Macrofauna Werkgroep Groen Hart Leudal in The Netherlands, found some diatoms in the river Swalm near their clubhouse. It is a challenge to name diatoms if the cell contents are still present in the silica skeleton. The organic content should be removed first with the help of chemicals. Yet an attempt can be made to identify these still living tiny algae, which were caught on video with the help of the Motic inverted microscope AE31E with Motic PlanApo 20X and 40X objectives and the Moticam cameras 1080 and S6.

The Swalm is a small river in Germany and the Netherlands. Its source is in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Swalm flows into the Meuse across the border with the Netherlands. Its total length is 45 km.

The wetland overgrown with trees and heath/bog areas along the Swalm provide a diverse habitat for fauna and flora. Frogs, dragonflies, damselflies, blue throat, kingfisher and golden oriole are to be found as are water crowfoot, bog myrtle and other rare plants. Brown trout, barbel and chub are at home in the river; along the river banks are also various members of the beaver rat family.

Which diatoms do we see in the video?


Determination result

1. Surirella
2. Cymatopleura
3. Synedra
4. Gyrosigma acuminatum
5. Aulacoseira granulata
6. Navicula
7. Encyonema caespitosum
8. Synedra

With thanks to Steve Gill, chairman of the Quekett Microscopical Club, UK

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