Sunday, February 05, 2006


Keeping with my unintentional "survey of all kingdoms from Lillian Swamp" I am posting a picture of Ophrydium. Ophrydium versatile is a sessile ciliate from Kingdom Protista that forms green, gelatinous colonies. Chlorophyll a and b impart a green color to Ophrydium masses due to 400-500 Chlorella-like endosymbionts in each peritrich.
Translation: These are slimy balls made up of a bunch of smaller organisms that are green. They do not indicate water quality issues, rather they act much like tiny water filters.

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