#dinoflagellate

[ieafy]

saw bioluminescent dinoflagellates for the first time ☺️🦠

[ggnoni]

[mugene-art]

preview for upcoming sticker sheet!!

[rudebisco]

yippeee little dinoflagellate video. i love how they tumble around (Gyrodinium or Gymnodinium sp.)

Video description: A microscope video of a golden-coloured dinoflagellate cell moving around. The dinoflagellate doesn't have obvious plates or spines, and is quite round overall. It tumbles around the screen, coming in and out of focus. At various times you can clearly see the cingulum (a horizontal groove that goes around the cell like a belt) and the sulcus (a short groove that runs perpendicular to the cingulum, and looks sort of like an asscrack) as it rotates. The longitudinal flagellum, which emerges from the sulcus and flaps behind the cell like a tail, is only occasionally in focus/visible.

[merismo]

Pyrocystis fusiformis

If you’ve been around on the internet long enough, you’ve probably seen videos or images of glow-in-the-dark waves in the ocean. You may have also heard that these are caused by bioluminescent plankton, and this happens to be one of two species that commonly cause this strange phenomenon.

But what’s the evolutionary advantage of being sparkly?

My favorite hypothesis put forth is the “burglar alarm” hypothesis. The idea is that if an organism tries to eat these guys, the bright flash they let off as they get disturbed alerts larger predators, that in turn eat the plankton-muncher. A sort of the enemy of my enemy is my friend situation.

We know this set-up occurs in larger (one might say giant) organisms.

There’s a deep sea jellyfish called the Atolla jelly that releases bioluminescence when attacked or disturbed. It’s believed to act as a signal for larger predators to eat whatever is attacking the jelly. So scientists placed a camera next to a fake bioluminescent jellyfish in the ocean to see what kind of animals it would attract. Interestingly enough, a giant squid came up to the fake jellyfish but actually ended up attacking the camera next to it (here is a TED talk about it). Could the same thing be happening to these plankton, but on a much smaller scale?

[montereybayaquarium]

Here’s 20 minutes of bioluminescent waves + ocean sounds from Monterey Bay for your relaxocean needs:

[adelicateculturecell]

"Of course, these shapes aren't just for fun. An organism's shape is connected to the world it lives in, though sometimes the factors shaping them are beyond our understanding. It can be difficult at times to narrow down why a microbe takes on a particular shape when the reality of the microcosmos is that in any environment, you can find a whole plethora of shapes that might seem to have nothing in common."

Journey to the Microcosmos- The Diversity of Shapes in the Microcosmos

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

Pediastrum cell wall 630x, Opercularia 630x, Cyanobacteria 630x, Dinoflagellates 200x, Algae & Heliozoa 630x, Amoeba & diatoms 630x

[glowing-disciple]

More zooplankton