Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a lateral girdle view (diplopsaloid) of a Protoperidinium sp. dinoflagellate. Protoperidinum species ar
Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a lateral girdle view (diplopsaloid) of a Protoperidinium sp. dinoflagellate. Protoperidinum species are thecate (armoured) marine planktonic heterotrophic (non-photosynthetic) dinoflagellates. The armoured theca (surrounding the cell; made of cellulose) is well developed. Unlike photosynthetic dinoflagellates (true algae), heterotrophic dinoflagellates (protists; protozoa) feed directly on diatoms, other dinoflagellates, prasinophytes and ciliates. Protoperidinium is a pallium feeder that engulfs its prey with a pseudopod (pallium). Prey cells are captured individually using a thin filament and are then surrounded by a membrane and digested completely outside the theca. There are over 40 species of Protoperidinium that are distributed worldwide in both cold and temperate seawater. Specimen from an algal bloom in the Persian Gulf off Kuwait. Magnification: x2,500 when shortest axis printed at 25
Size: 2613px × 3483px
Photo credit: © DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 29637, alga, algae, colored, coloured, diatom, diatoms, dinoflagellate, dinoflagellates, diplopsaloid, electron, false-coloured, gulf, kuwait, marine, micrograph, microscope, peridiniales, persian, phytoplankton, plankton, prorocentrum, protoperidiniaceae, protoperidinium, salt, saltwater, scanning, scott, sea, seawater, sem, water
