Feature Story 1041

JEWELS OF THE SEA

unicellular Tinythehave beenalgae called diatoms around longer than dinosaurs. The glass-like shells remain long after the algae have died. The shells shown here are just a few species from the tens of thousands that exist today.

Science Photo Library Feature Stories - Jewels Of The Sea

here is the oldest thing in your house? Most people would think

of some treasured item - perhaps a grandparents ring, an antique spoon or an old book. In fact its in something you use every day - the toothpaste in your bathroom. One of its ingredients could have been living at the time of the dinosaurs, 200 million years ago. Unlike the dinosaurs however, these creatures continue alive and well today, and are found all over the world. They are tiny unicellular algae called diatoms. Diatoms are distinguished from other algae by the nature of their cell wall. This is composed of a sticky carbohydrate called pectin, held in place by a rigid scaffolding made of silica

- the same material as sand grains. It is this glass-like shell that persists unchanged for millions of years. Nearly all diatoms are photosynthetic; they can live in almost any environment where there is light, even deserts. Species have been found in hot springs where the water temperature is 42 degrees centigrade; others occur on the underside of ice floes in the Arctic ocean. Microscopists have always loved diatoms. There are about ten thousand species in the world, and each has a distinctive pattern to its shell. The details of the architecture happen to be just the right size to test the quality of optical lenses, as well as being extremely attractive when magnified. This combination of aesthetics and competition appealed particularly to the Victorians, who delighted in making slides of groups of diatoms to show off both their taste and, no doubt, the size of their wallets.

Today we are fortunate in having the Scanning Electron Microscope. This instrument is far superior to the light microscope in its ability to capture fine details. The beautiful pictures here are taken using an SEM. But a vestige of Victorian values remains, as their colours are the result of an artists judgment. Diatoms fall into two broad groups; those with circular symmetry, called centric diatoms, and pennate diatoms, which are elongated in shape. A simple way to think of them is as pill boxes or jewellery boxes, made of glass; in both cases, the two halves (valves) of the shell (the frustule) fit together like a box and its lid. Living in a glass box presents a curious problem for diatoms. When a cell divides, it produces two progeny; one inherits the lid, and the other, the box. Each manufactures a new silica valve, but in both

cases, it is made to fit inside the inherited valve. If the new cell inherits a lid, then the result is a cell the same size as its parent. But the inheritor of the box ends up smaller, because it uses the original box as its new lid. After several cycles of this sort of division, one of the progeny becomes too small to survive as a cell. At this point it turns into a spore, sheds its silica coat entirely, and grows back to the original size before making a new shell. Centric and pennate diatoms show

Science Photo Library Feature Stories - Jewels Of The Sea

different preferences for where to live. Pennate species are found more in fresh water or on damp substrates, such as soil, bark, even leaves. They can move about very slowly, by throwing out sticky threads and then pulling themselves towards whatever the thread touches. Centric species make up an important part of the plankton found in both oceans and freshwater lakes; they dont have any mechanism for movement, but drift about in the currents. To aid flotation, diatoms store the products of photosynthesis as oil droplets rather than starch; Bacteriastrum species also develop leg-like wall outgrowth. The number of diatoms in the sea, particularly near the poles, is astronomical. A litre of surface sea water may contain 15 thousand diatoms; a column of sea water one metre square may contain 20 billion diatoms from

its surface to the ocean bed. With such numbers, it is perhaps not surprising that deposits of diatomaceous earth are known that are nearly one kilometre thick; each cubic centimetre contains over 4 million diatom shells. At a site near Lompoc in California, more than a quarter of a million tonnes of diatomaceous earth are mined each year for use in polishes, filter materials and insulation. Diatoms are at the base of the marine food chain; eaten by small animal plankton, and filter-feeders. One species, Navicula ostrearia, is famous in the worlds best restaurants. When eaten by an oyster, it produces the highly prized green tinge to the gills of the shellfish. Most of the worlds creatures, including humans, depend on energy from the sun in order to live. Scientists estimate that 20-25% of the worlds photosynthesis - the process that captures that energy - is carried out by diatoms. So next time you clean your teeth after a meal, of oysters or not, spare a grateful thought for the humble diatom. ENDS 830 WORDS COPYRIGHT SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Two column text 12 point

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Science Photo Library Feature Stories - Jewels Of The Sea

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Science Photo Library Feature Stories - Jewels Of The Sea

For further information, please contact: seymour@sciencephoto.com

All images are copyright, please credit images as stated on the captions