Algae World: Phycological Research

This series of images was taken in 1982. In the first image (top left), two paired cells of Cymbella neolanceolata lie side-by-side in a capsule of mucilage (the paler, more homogeneous halo around the cells); each contains two gametes, one above the other, separated by a 'horizontal line'. Then the gametes fuse with each other and move as a coordinated pair (clockwise) so that, finally (bottom right image), each gametangium contains a single elongate zygote. The black strips inside the cells are the chloroplasts, which become folded during gametogenesis (which precedes the stages shown here). This series complements the information given in a classic early paper on diatom meiosis and auxosporulation by Lothar Geitler (1927).

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David Mann,
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
June 2013