portrait
Tetraselmis (tet-ra-sell-miss) is a small green flagellate, one of the prasinophytes,. Four flagella inserting into an anterior pocket. Prasinophytes are very common in marine ecosystems and make a major contribution to marine photosynthesis. Red region is the stigma or eyespot. Differential interference contrast. This picture was taken by David Patterson, Linda Amaral Zettler and Virginia Edgcomb of material from the salt marsh at Little Sippewissett (Massachusetts, USA) in Autumn, 2000 and in Spring and summer, 2001. Image copyright: D. J. Patterson, L. Amaral-Zettler and V. Edgcomb, image used under license to MBL (micro*scope).
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Tetraselmis
From the collection
Little Sippewissett salt marsh, Massachusetts, USA
| Description of Tetraselmis: Cells more or less compressed, often slightly curved but never twisted, cells cordiform, elliptic or almost spherical; similar to Scherffelia but differing in cell shape and in the presence of a single chloroplast (very rarely two), a pyrenoid and an eyespot; aexual reproduction as in Scherffelia, thick-walled cysts known in several species, but sexuality not reported, fairly speciose, in both freshwater and marine biota, some species in plankton, others benthic in green sand, or in symbiosis with metazoa, e.g. the turbellarian Convoluta roscoffensi. |
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