The cyanobacteria genus Aphanizomenon is well known as an ingredient of health food providing lots of vitamins and trace elements.
Collected from littoral region (stand of Phragmites) of a rain storage reservoir in Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). This image was taken using Zeiss Universal with Olympus C7070 CCD camera. This image was taken by Wolfgang Bettighofer. Image copyright by Wolfgang Bettighofer (www.protisten.de); image used under license to MBL.
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Description of Aphanizomenon: Aphanizomenon is a filamentous blue-green alga (cyanobacterium). The filaments may be free-floating, solitary or in some species bound together as colonies up to an inch in length. The filaments (trichomes) are usually straight or slightly curved, rounded or narrowing at the tips, with crosswalls, no firm sheaths but sometimes a surrounding mucilagenous layer; cells may be vacuolized; sometimes with heterocysts, Gas vacuoles may be present. May cause blooms, the type species (A. flos-aquae) may cause problems in water supply reservoirs and aquaculture.
