 |
This photograph was taken with phase contrast and shows the alga Ophiocytium which belongs to the Xanthophycea or yellow algae. Ophioctium can be found either solitary or living in small branched colonies and can vary in its shape from being highly coiled to straight. Reproduction is asexual by the release of biflagellate zoospores. It is usually found attached to the substratum or to an algal cell. It would appear from my findings to be fairly common in the south east of England. |
 |
Spirostomum.This protozoan was photographed with T-MAX 100, which was rated at 400 ISO. |
 |
This photograph was taken with phase and considerably enlarged from the original slide. I think this is a species of chlamydomonas but I am not 100% sure. |
| All the photographs taken here of spirochetes were taken with a phase contrast X63 objective using a Zeiss photomic 111. Spirochetes are incredible to watch as they endlessly spiral their way through the liquid searching for nutrients. Spirochetes are gram negative and have a very distinctive shape. There are certain members of this type that cause pathological disease in humans, Borellia burgdorferi, Leptospira interrogans and Treponema pallidium the agent of syphilis. Dark field illumination is the best way to see these organisms. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This alga was extremely numerous but so far I have not been able to identify the species. |
 |
This microbe has not been identified by me. It is encased inside a sheath. |
 |
This is the suctorian Podophyra. This ciliate is attached to the substrate by a stalk and catches other microbes by holding out numerous arms with extrusomes situated right at the tips of the out stretched arms. The extrusomes latch on to the prey and then siphon the cell contents via the feeding tube into the cell body of Podophyra.Podophyra will encyst when conditions deteriorate. There are anything up to 30 of the arms radiating from the cell body. Reproduction is by budding. |
 |
Podophyra showing the large water expelling vacuole and nucleus just underneath. This was taken with differential interference contrast. |