Volvox Dances

[ahmelonicepop]

impressive

thanks for sharing this :)

[BranislavDJ]

He is cute ^^

:3

[bananian]

why do they spin?

[keilayefani]

they don't colide each other 'cause of the few electric charges that each of the small and little algae dispose to keep the natural balance...

[VladtheEmailer]

Like a floating jewel! I love volvox!

[atn212]

yes, all the one's in biology were either dead or not moving anywhere near as fast, thx... :D

[lordalexander74]

These creatures are pretty amusing. I tried to make a wet mount/slide with some Volvox, but I think I killed them. The parent colony burst open and the daughters were sprawled out nearby.

[colely]

I love getting pond water and seeing Volvox... They are so freaking awesome!!!! One time i got some type of worm and there were a dozen volvox swimming around it. freaking amazing...

[Fandrena]

Just like a gramohphone playing a record from way back when

[blondi195656]

they are covered with (two pair) of filaments around their surface

[shadow13155]

i tryed to see these and the paramecium in class, but the teacher got some lakes and it has been raning a lot these days so we weren't able to see any, but it looks prety cool and interesting to watch moving things on the microscope xD

[Wcoltd]

they move like microscopic tumbleweeds.... hypnotizing.

[GaarapunKx3]

it is really impresive,,,

such a cute & HQ volvox!

[MegaSoccerfanatic]

Thanks a lot! That was too cool!

[LittleBlueHeron]

I believe I have found some... they are absolutely beautiful and amazing "creatures"

BTW, what's the brown thing at 1:24 ?

[slowbreakfast]

beautiful!

[ZurDruid]

wau

[GoldenBeastStudios]

I'll forever assosiate Volvox with the mispelled "Bolbox" boss monster from E.V.O lol. Cool video

[WLanier]

For those who saw Volvox in class and found they did not move or spin. These were collected from the wild. Recently I ordered another species from Carolina Biological and I found those Volvox aureus moved more slowly and many did not show any motion at all.

[FyerEgg]

why dont they ever bump into eachother?

[WLanier]

They do bump into each other.

[Jslsp4eva]

Lol This is pretty funny

[xchibidinox]

lol the culture i have at school act like one part is pinned down and they spin around xD

[Stickers511]

awesome

[Rachaeltwilight90]

This is great...really helpful. Our sample in my Biology class was dead.

[kymkym121]

This is actually kind of cool. Thanks for the really good description. We looked at these in lab but the light from the microscope killed them and they werent moving.

[slipperywhenwet5]

i wonder how small something can get. isn't the smallest thing ever Atoms?

Then what makes up Adams?

Is there anything smaller than an adam?

Just some random Q's

[elgrabadula]

wow , did you record that your self, that's pretty impressive

[Stevenscar7]

Volvox are leet.

[MiloWitch]

a la longue ils doivent avoir le tournis...

[xxBuckyDoneGun]

winogradsky column what what! Totally neat!

[yomega69]

Hmm thought it was green.

[WLanier]

Actually, Volvox is green. The LED light in the Swift Field microscope has maximum emission in the blue wavelengths, giving a blue-green color. This is an artifact of lighting.

[Nachttaenzerin22]

SWEEEEEEET!! ^.^

[hinduw]

imagine how dizzy that thing must get!

[Dusty2455433]

omg i love the volvox 7th grade is making school projects for protists but the only one anyones making it on is volvox how cute r they? ^-^

[DougtheAsian]

hahah... I just looked at these under a microscope yesterday. Anyone know where to find one???

[airbusandmustang]

im in middle school (6th grade) and i looked at volvox under a microscope just yesterday. yea, the bad thing was that they were dead. not cuz we couldnt get live ones, because peoplelft the mioscope light on, itgot hot fried them, and they died. we also looed at ameoba, and 2 others that i don remember. same story. also mammel cheek cells, mammal nerve cells, onion leef cells, and spinach cells.

[anhzor]

your volvox arent dead, they are probably not moving. The one i observe in collage rarely move. Light is good for them since they are photosynthetic. good stuff though kid keep learning.

[pewfad]

cute volvox, i really love these protists

[Ramenzz]

kinda cute i must say

[wirbelwindbattleship]

How adorable.

[WLanier]

j40505 - see Daverocket, page 2, for reason Volvox is spinning.

[j40505]

why is it spinning?

[180mishue]

i am doing a project on Volvox can someone give my the scientific name for it

[Dunkin256]

Uh... the genus name _is_ Volvox. There are several species in the genus.

[porklodgemaddness]

They are such lucky lifeforms, not a care in the world. Just to find a bit of sunlight and some organic matter. No taxes, no war, no fashion, just spinning.

[lethalgirl101]

ha!!! im in sixth grade and im studying this!!

(this is for science class)

[Udedenkz]

you should add music to this.. and this thingy is interesting... never before today I knew that such existed... and I find the weirdest things cute.

[WLanier]

Toothlesswonder - I will have to think on this. Higher Eukaryotes do have such cytoplasmic connections between cells, but I do not know about Volvox. Many argue that it is only a colony, not a multicellular critter. I think this is a worthwhile thread to follow and I would invite further comment.

[Buddysawwa]

I think its a colony: each cell performs the same function. But yea, its really cool how they coordinate the movement! Do you know its done, by any chance?

[crazyjen123]

u should add music to this!

[WLanier]

The comment by Daverocker1 prompts the following question: There are very many apparently-identical cells in a mature spherical Volvox "colony" - how do you suppose this gang of cells coordinate the beating of flagella?

[twothlesswonder]

I may not be an expert on Volvox but I'll stick my neck out and venture a guess: My first idea was based on the fact that the individual cells are connected to each other by thin threads of cytoplasm, which I thought could act as a succession of triggers to coordinate movement. However, I suppose this would only be possible if there existed a "master" cell to decide on and initiate movement.

[twothlesswonder]

Then I remembered that Volvox has an eye-spot in each cell. Could it be that only some of the cells in one particular area of the colony possess functioning eye-spots? Perhaps this group of eye-spots would act as the master triggers effecting a cascade of whipping flagella propelling the colony towards light/energy. Heh, now I fell helplessly compelled to go research this.....

[banlana]

From what I know, it's the "anterior" part of the sphere that contains the cells with larger eye-spots. They direct the sphere towards sunlight this way.

[daverocker1]

Volvox "dances" like this because the flagellum on the outer cells move in a coordinated manner. i.e. not random beating. So cool.

[WLanier]

Mein Wortschatz schließt nicht „XD", ist diese Deutsche Textnachrichtenübermittlung... mit ein? Aber es ist zutreffend, daß die wenig eine Tochterkolonien sind. Für die Töchter innerhalb der Mutterkolonie eine Weile tanzen, aber sie entgehen schließlich durch eine interessante topologische Umwandlung.

[akaspirin]

volvoxkugels an die macht!! XD

besonders die mit tochterkugels...

[amauta5]

Cholophyta rulz

[Julian9ehp]

Courtesy of WLanier.