Once the diatoms discovered, people are debating whether diatoms were animals or plants . It was thought to be a single-celled animal like paramecium , and then it was regarded as plants because it could photosynthesize——they even had cell walls !
Diatoms are algae that live in houses made of glass . They are the only organism on the planet with cell walls composed of transparent , opaline silica .
Diatoms have light-absorbing molecules(chlorophyIIs a and c) that collect energy from the sun and turn it into chemical energy through photosynthesis . They produce 20-30% of the air we breath .
They are also an important source of these energy rich molecules that are food for the entire food web, from zooplankton to aquatic insects to fish to whales .
Taking a microscopic view of diatoms !
- How big are diatoms ?
Nearly all diatoms are microscopic -cells range in size from 2 um to 500um , that is ,half of a millimeter .
2. Where do diatoms live ?
Diatoms live in water , or even in moist habitats or soils .Some diatoms live as free-floating cells in the plankton of ponds , lakes and oceans .
3. How long does a diatom cell live ?
A single diatom cell can divide and form two new cells . Cells may divide as quickly as once a day up to every several weeks .
Observing the diatoms under a fluorescence microscope .
Photographer :Leonardo Capradossi
The filter set that Leo used is DAPI longpass filter from Optolong Optics .
Details of the filters:
| Part Number | Filters | Wavelengths |
| 31001 | LP-DAPI | Excitation BP365, Emisison LP415, Dichroic 405 |
