Spirochaetae and Diatoms Lead a Busy Life

This film was made using a Swift FM-31 Field Microscope and Sony DSC-W7 Cybershot Camera, viewing a sample taken from a San Francisco Bay Salt Marsh pond at 800X magnification. The "snake-like" critters are Spirochete bacteria and the "boat-shaped" ones are Pennate Diatoms. Diatoms are algae in glass [silica] shells. That means they are tiny photosynthetic plants, using sunlight for energy. The role of the Spirochetes in this pond community is not known. Of the many millions of species of bacteria, only a very few are pathogens and even fewer are human pathogens. These little guys probably make their living digesting the remains of plant and animal material in the pond. The water in salt marsh ponds is often very salty, being as much as 5% salt.

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Howto & Style

Tags:

• science
• ecology
• microorganism
• bacteria
• diatoms
• pond
• saline

[socrattes]

that's pretty