The Nature of the Rideau River, Ontario, Canada [Canadian Nature Museum]; presents an SEM of Peridinium inconspicuum. Lest one thinks this Dino came from a lotic condition, I did some checking of the back story, and found sampling took place along the watershed, including oxbow lakes. Just another pet peeve of mine, but if you collect it in a lake - say so.
Virual Microscope Lab: Dinoflagellates [Univ. of Winnipeg]; provides a "demonstration" slide of Ceratium (hirundinella), and a drawing of Ceratium spp. (from life?) which appears to favor carolinianum. That would be an interesting record for the province.
Examples of Freshwater Algae [Freshwater Ecology Lab - Univ. of Ottawa; includes a single, quality, light micrograph of Ceratium hirundinella
American Museum of Natural History: Tree of Life: Protoctists; shows Peridinium gatunense SEM - if it seems familiar it is because its ours though we're not cited anywhere. Compare with Freshwater Dinoflagellate Images: Peridinium gatunense
Academic NT Websites Course material - 5 available slides; a couple of heavily stained Ceratium hirundinella, and a couple of generic lumpy gatunense-like Peridinium. What's interesting is the unarmored Dino next to one of the Peridinium. Could be Gymnodinium but the assymetric, mushroom cap is common to Amphidinium and Katodinium.
Dinoflagellates [Plant Key - Biology Department of Raymond Walters College]; depicts a Ceratium hirundinella
Phytoplankton Guide to the Rhode River and the Chesapeake Bay [Smithsonian Environmental Research Center]; present a Ceratium hirundinella - a very squat one comparing favorably with forma austriacum. And yes, this was collected from the Upper Muddy Creek tributary - even Susan and I have collected the odd Dino from a small trib. - come to think of it named Muddy Creek (Sandusky Co. OH) as well.
BIO 321 Aquatic Algae [another lecture support page - Bethel College and Seminary]; you can find an identifiable Ceratium hirundinella on this page just don't look under the image labeled "Ceratium-hiradinella" [sic]. It probably is a Dino but Ceratium it aint.
Great Lakes Waterlife Photo Gallery Algae Dinoflagellates; lists provided of species from various lakes. However, only links to a single Dino image - and that is the Peridinium found within the Ohio University Directory.
Another Limnology Notes page [offered for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Arizona]; links to four "Gymnodinium " cells and two Peridinium. The latter are typical lumpy, round, browns, with Peridinium volzii a good candidate. As to the "Gymnodinium - the first three cells look to be to thickly thecate. The cell is not unlike Peridinium umbonatum or possibly P. inconspicuum but a Gymno???? And #4 fits Amphidinium before I'd suggest anything else.
Dr. Lawrence Fritz Phycology Lab [a student page from Northern Arizona University]; in addition to nice SEMs of Peridinium inconspicuum, this site offers a light micrographs and SEM of P. volzii. Also several light micrographs of Ceratium left unidentified from a Flagstaff, AZ pond. There is another erroneous reference to "Glenodinium". The cell itself is presented in a "cyst" form by SEM and a light micrograph with plate detail. May be identifiable.
Miscellaneous Freshwater Microalgae Identification [by Ray Wong for Math & Science Nucleus]; presents a very interesting "Peridinium" from the Fremont Watershed of California. Ray also provides a detailed text description of the cell missing only the chimneyed appearance of the apical pore. Chimneys first bring to mind Peridiniopsis cunningtoni (flattened cell) or P. quadridens (a rotund cell), both of which may have spiked ornamentation on the hypotheca as is the case here. However, I can not rule out Peridinium though few of that genera come with chimneyed apical pores. Very interesting and a refreshing change from the mundane cinctum types offered up by everyone else.
"Phytoplankton: Dinoflagellates and Diatoms" - intro page for the Botany Dept, Univ Hawai'i at Manoa. ; links to generic drawings of freshwater Peridinium and Ceratium.
Dinoflagellates Gallery (Pyrrophyta) offered under Limnology course materials [Indiana University]; page presents two Dinos, a broken, deformed Ceratium hirundinella, and a "Peridinium" with the unfortunate caption "-a marine form causes 'Red Tide'". Unfortunate as the cell appears dead-to-rights to be Peridiniopsis polonicum.
Aquatic Photos [ Biology Dept., Stetson University, Florida]; presents a "Ceratium" under the Algae heading (long download) that is clearly Ceratium brachyceros. The specimen was sampled from Lake Okeechobee, Florida.
Image Gallery of Freshwater Algae from the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan: Dinophyta [by Jason Oyadomari]. Well Jason, this is simply the best student presentation on the subject I have come across on the web (and I have scoured 1000+ pages). For others visiting this site, be sure to check out Jason's homepage. Jason presents two dozen light micrographs and a couple of video clips, identifying the organisms as best he can, and notably identifies the location of the sampling effort (basic biological information for a specimen yet so rarely a part of online information).
Presented are Ceratium hirundinella f. hirundinella (and possibly f. piburgense), cysts of same, Gymnodinium spp. wisely left unidentified, and various "Peridinium". And it is the latter that I find VERY INTERESTING indeed. The 2nd Gymnodinium which appears to be blue-green in color making it G. aeruginosum or G. acidotum (possibly synonymous). Your first Peridinium (#12) is willei - nice apical flange - a common species expected in the U.P. Number 13 is not unlike Peridiniopsis polonicum. As is, best left unidentified. Was it by any chance strongly dorso-ventrally flattened, perhaps even a bit concave? Number 14 - unknown. Number 15 - another P. willei as is probably the case with #16. And the best for last - Number 23 is almost certainly Peridiniopsis elpatiewskyi - a GREAT FIND. Refer to the above Japanese site. Note the dorso-ventral flattening, the offset sulcus, the spiny hypotheca which is asymetrical, and the chimneyed epitheca - a unique look to this cell. We have seen the species in Ohio and New York.
Also a word on technology. Jason is hip to the latest video codec - DivX which one can download free from his site. While MPEG 4 is only just going mainstream, word on the street has DivX blowing MPEG4 away and going mainstream by this time next year. Web video may actually come to the masses.
Dinophyta Directory: Michigan Tech., Dept. of Biological Sciences; presents several images of Ceratium hirundinella (a live two-horned form - possibly gracile) and Peridinium. Uniquely, they have links to film clips of both species - a natural for Dinos given their motile ways. Sadly, even with the latest version of QuickTime player I was unable to view the clips. Kudos for the effort though. As to the Peridinium displayed, it is clearly willei; a fact made evident by the flange clearly visible in the quality light micrographs. One image displays the species with flagellum - something I rarely get to see (and I've seen hundreds of live willei).
Student Page by Ryan Lukach [unoffical Michigan Technical Univ., School of Forestry site]; presents two Ceratium hirundinella (one of which appears at the site above), and two "Peridinium". However, the latter is thin-walled, with a bell-like epitheca, and a rugose hypotheca. These are characteristics of not only a Woloszynskia but specifically Woloszynskia reticulata (the small size also aids in eliminating other contenders). I'm not 100% certain but compares favorably, certainly more so than to any Peridinium.
Student page by Joseph L. Musolf [another Michigan Tech Univ. student]; this site presents several "dinoflagellates". The Ceratium is hirundinella and may have been form piburgense but the crushed state precludes ID. The "Gymnodinium" is best left unidentifid. Likewise the "Gymnodinium or Peridinium" is not identifiable as a dinoflagellate. The "Glenodinium"* is an empty cell of Peridinium and likely an inconspicuum. The last cell labeled Gymnodinium or Peridinium is possibly the former but is certainly unique and not a common species, although the ID eludes me. It would be helpful if the cell were presented right-side up.
* BTW, we don't like "Glenodinium". It is a INVALID genus, with no known plate pattern, unfortunately promulgated in the literature.
Plant Biology course (Univ. of Michigan); links to a large, lumpyPeridinium spp. The linked image is scrambled but sourcing it through the Google search engine I make it out to be P. gatunense; and also to an image of Ceratium spp. which is clearly hirundinella form hirundinella. Although not linked, the search engine revealed a marine Ceratium at this site, and a Gymnodinium of the uberrimum type.
Biology 122 Laboratory Web Site: Protists [Southwest Missouri State University, Dept. of Biology]; presents a VERY interesting Ceratium. We have only encountered such an attenuated cell once in North America and would love to know where this came from [contact info given at website no longer functions].
Water on the Web's "Understanding Lake Ecology" primer; link to a very nice SEM of a Peridinium which is clearly inconspicuum. The image is sourced from Susquehanna University Algal Image Archive and Cyanosite (see below)
Michael R. Martin's Phytoplankton Image Library; a well-known site that includes an entry for "Dinophyceae"; as of Nov 2003 (and as has been the case for several years) only a few images of Ceratium and Peridinium are offered. Although not identified to species the Ceratium is clearly hirundinella, and the Peridinium is clearly limbatum - and a rather nice image at that.
Ohio University - Directory of Algal Images; only one cell, a Peridinium spp.; a lumpy brown willei type.
Highschool Biology [Mr. Johnson of Frederick OK]; photo of Ceratium hirundinella.
Susquehanna University Algal Image Archive; Gymnodinium fuscum (3 images), Peridinium inconspicuum (13 images), Peridinium wisconsinense, and Peridinium gatunense. Good SEM images of these species; especially rare is the presentation of G. fuscum.
Microscope Images posted by Kenneth M. Klemow, Ph.D., Biology Department, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre; links to a "Peridinium". High, helmeted epitheca, dominant over the hypotheca, with sharply defined cingulum, and strongly dorso-ventrally flattened. Also a possible apical pore showing. If a Peridinium, comforms to bipes, but I'm not sold on it being a Peridinium. why not Peridiniopsis or even Woloszynskia?
North Temperate Lakes LTER Microbial Observatory; a Univ. of Wisconsin education site for 6-12 grade; depicts a Peridinium which is clearly limbatum.
ALGALPIC: Motile Algae [Australia Freshwater Algae Database]; presents montage of light micrographs under three headings Ceratium, Peridinium, and Gymnodinium. Most of the images are borrowed from the Japanese Protist page listed below. However, original images include a Ceratium hirundinella, a number of Peridinium a couple of which are clearly bipes, and a curious Gymnodinium (like acidotum only golden).
Freshwater dinoflagellates in Japan; This massive pictorial lists the following
Armored
Peridiniuim berolinense, Peridinium bipes, Peridinium [sic] elpatiewsky, Peridinium gatunense, Peridinium lomnickii, Peridinium palatinum, Peridinium [sic] penardiforme, Peridinium umbonatum, Peridinium volzii, Peridinium willei, Ceratium hirundinella
Gymnodinium limitatum, Amphidinium elenkinii, Gymnodinium thomasii, Gymnodinium lacustre, Gymnodinium austriacum, Gymnodinium accuminatum, Gymnodinium wawrikae, Gymnodinium sp., Gymnodinium uberrimum, Gymnodinium sp., Gymnodinium aeruginosum, Gymnodinium helveticum, Katodinium woloszynskae, Katodinium mazuricum?, Gyrodinium hyalinum, Woloszynskia neglecta.
In Japanese site provides a light micrograph of live cells of a Ceratium hirundinella and a Peridinium.
In Japanese [different site, different images]; again another Ceratium hirundinella and a Peridinium are linked off this page.
Dinophyceae or Dinoflagellida [Japanese Protist Information Server]; lists several species including a Gymnodinium fuscum, Gymnodinium aeruginosum (albeit one quite different from what we commonly see in Ohio), a Gyrodinium, Ceratium furca, Ceratium hirundinella [c.f. gracile], and several Peridinium such as bipes , cunningtonii, elpatiewskyi, volzii. All of the latter genus are accompanied by question marks. There is nothing about the cell labeled "elpatiewskyi" that ID's it as such. I don't have a problem with the other identifications. This site also erroneously references "Glenodinium pulvisculus ".
Phycological Images [Division Dinophyta - University of Tsukuba]; among many marine forms this site harbors images of Gymnodinium acidotum (light micrograph in color); and two good SEMs of a Peridinium (P. volzii type).
Microbial Culture Collection, National Institute for Environmental Studies [Ministry of Environment, Goverment of Japan]; collection holds several strains of Peridinium including bipes, inconspicuum, volzii, and wierzejskii. Presently, only P. bipes is illustrated. I'd love to see P. wierzejskii.
Plant-Bio Micro Scope Gallery; here is another oustanding site from the orient. Nicely laid out wealth of algal images of very good quality. For freshwater Dinos there are presented in nice (as in clearly identifiable) light micrographs Ceratium hirundinella (appears to be f. gracile), Peridinium inconspicuum, P. bipes (well done with the apical pore clearly visible), P. penardii c.f., Peridinium polonicum [sic], and a Peridinium spp." which to my eye is a classic Peridiniopsis penardiforme (the form lacking chloroplasts). All-in-all a nice resource.
Algal Web image index; includes 5 light micrographs of Ceratium hirundinella
Les dinoflagellés ; depicts a Peridinium and a Ceratium although the captions are reversed. I think we've seen these images elsewhere though.
Fitoplancton ; presents a Ceratium hirundinella and uniquely a Gymnodinium helveticum.
Ecology of Alpine Waters [Italian teaching site by Confortola Gabriele & Urbani Fabrizio]; presents Peridinium cinctum as a sample Dino with parts labeled (barely legible). Also presents a cluster of Gymnodinium cells.
Peridinium cinctum: However, the origin of this image is not this site as it can be found in use many other places. It is a popular image for introductory microbiology sites such as "Microbiology in the Beginning" where it is erroneously captioned "Peridinium Cinctum [sic] - a type of plankton found in the ocean". At least they cite the copyright correctly. The image actually originates with the Protist Image Data pages of the University of Montreal. Here one can read the labeling and examine the cell in detail. However, I'd like to point out that New World P. cinctum is only known to us in a different form and is often confused with the cosmopolitan P. gatunense. Many a P. cinctum reported from North America we suspect are actually P. gatunense. I am satisfied that this SEM of ultrastructure displays P. cinctum - note the dorso-ventral flattening atypical of the rounder, saturn-like gatunense.
A Hungarian Site; presents an interesting looking "Peridinium".
Plankton ; a nice presentation of light micrographs and an SEM of Peridinium bipes. You will also find a nice presentation (light and SEM shots) of Ceratium hirundinella (three-horned variety plus a cyst) and what the site lists as C. carolinianum. But for my money (and equally interesting as it is very rarely depicted so well) this is C. cornutum. But don't take my word for it - see the German entry under the literature section below.
Systematic Tree of Organisms: Dinophyceae [Norwegian environmental Education Network]; a nicely laid out site with high quality images of the following freshwater species:
Ceratium hirundinella, "C. carolineanum" [sic] which again is actually C. cornutum, "Peridinium biceps [sic]" which is a nice SEM of P. bipes, a Peridinium sp. SEM which compares favorably to P. volzii, and another generically presented light micrograph that compares favorably with P. aciculiferum. There are also marine forms illustrated here.
Lund University; a montage of phytoplankton including Ceratium hirundinella, a cyst of Ceratium, Peridiniopsis polonicum, and a Gymnodinium.
Prof. Gerald Moritz Limnology Notes [Martin-Luther University, Germany]; includes Ceratium hirundinella and uniquely, an SEM of Peridinium tabulatum.
The Freshwater Algae of Worcestershire [John Dodge]; depicts drawings of Gymnodinium inversum motile vegetative cell, G. inversum cyst., Gymnodinium pseudopalustre motile stage, Peridinium palatinum
Dinoflagellate associations in Feitsui Reservoir, Taiwan [Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin. (1998) 39: 137_145 | Wu and Chou]; depicts quality images of Peridinium umbonatum, P. bipes, and Ceratium furcoides.
Algenvorkommen im nördlichen Grunewald (Berlin) [article by W.-H. Kusber & R. Jahn]; in which they present a beautiful Ceratium cornutum correctly labeled as such.
Page established 1 November 2003 / last review 24 November 2003 by V. Fazio III