I know they're all common species,
such as tetraselmis, t-iso, etc.


Thanks!

better pics
in same order as abouve

Are they motile or non-motile?

1st pic: seem to be non-motile
2nd pic: were not really moving but appear to have twitching flagella (perhaps slide cover inhibited movement)
3rd pic: motile

K, do ya have an order of size? And are you saying one is an iso an done is a tetra and you are trying to figure out which is which... plus an unknown third?

I am cool with flagella, but what is motile?

possibilities would be:
tetraselmis
t-iso
nanno

2 and 3 could even be the same species, I'm not sure

wildeone, if they have beating flagella, doesn't this mean they are motile? Maybe I am misunderstanding

Flagella is the appendage... motile is the.... movement. Are they motile means do they move.

okay,
I think I figured it out,
#1 is nanno
and #2 and #3 are both t-iso

because #2 and 3, although slightly different, both seem to have that red dot (nucleus?) in the center of the cell and have similar flagella

possibilities would be:
tetraselmis
t-iso
nanno

2 and 3 could even be the same species, I'm not sure


Then I am going to go with nanno and tetra.

LOL... posting at the same time... I agree.

yes but if they have beating flagella, then they would move (if it weren't for the weight of the cover slip on top of them), thus being motile right?

ok thanks,
so you think tetra instead of t-iso Renee?

Oh wait now... you think it is iso?

LOL... post tag. Iso is motile, I thought.

But then then there is the red dot..... I'm not sure if tetras have a red nuclues or not but iso does I believe. Need to go get my book... hold on.

Iso is motile but is has a red eyespot.

tetra has a red eyespot as well. How many flagella are there... I thought it was four but maybe it was movement.

I looked again and there seem to be 2 flagella

well.... dead/dying iso?

yea that could be,
they were sitting in the slide for a little while

ok
I'm pretty sure its nanno and t-iso

thanks for your help everyone!

Seahorsedreams,
is the book you use to ID phyto a good one? what is it called?

I've had it for many years so I'm not sure if there is "newer and better" out there, but it is the Plankton Culture manual with Hoff and Snell.

the last two pics look like Tetraselmis to me.

Reed Mariculture - Instant Algae - Tetraselmis (http://www.reed-mariculture.com/microalgae/tetraselmis.asp)

Top right and bottom left look like tetraselmis. This looks green to me and Iso is brown. The culture water surrounding tetraselmis usually has debris in it (I have been told old cell "casings" left over from division) similar to what is in the top right picture. Usually red in the cell is lipid-carotenoid. Seeing it move would help. The top left looks like nanno.

Where did these cells come from?

Okay, then I go back to my first guess.... lol

but don't the tetras have 4 flagella?

thanks,
most iso seems to be round too, so I guess it is tetra,

AlgaGen,
these were some bottles that were not labeled that I discovered by some of my culture bottles, and I wanted to find out what they were