A fluttering organism

After being collected from a paddy field, the sample was put on 1% agar plate with a drop of distilled water and kept for four days. A tiny organism changes position slightly with a fluttering body movement.

Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University
This green alga probably belongs to either genus Chlamydomonas or Dunaliella.

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/PDB/Im.....

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/PDB/Im.....

Two flagella of the same length extend from the top; there seem to be chloroplasts inside the cell; and no special structure is observed on the cell surface. These are all featuers of both Chlamydomonas and Dunaliella.

The problem is identifying the greenish spherical body in the posterior part of the cell. If it is a chloroplast, the organism would likely be Chlamydomonas. But upon careful inspection, the anterior part is also slightly green, which suggests there are chloroplasts throughout the whole cell. In that case, the spherical body in the posterior part might be a stored particle of starch.

Another feature of Dunaliella is that it does not have a cell wall. But the resolution of this video is too low to confirm the existence a cell wall.

Sampling Date : 17 November 2006

Sampling Site : KASHIMADAI paddy field  Google Map