Diatom of the month - November 2015: Encyonema evergladianum
by Luca Marazzi* ‘Who’ is it? Encyonema evergladianum is a diatom living attached to various substrates, but is also able to move, if it needs to. It was originally described in 1997 by Krammer from samples collected in the Florida Everglades, USA . Scalebar = 10 µm Scalebar = 5 µm Encyonema evergladianum (Length range : 16-33 µm; Width Range: 4-6 µm; Striae in 10 µm: 20-22) Where does it live? This beautiful diatom lives in the Everglades periphyton mats, characteristic multi-color ‘biological carpets’ inhabited by bacteria, fungi and, importantly, by algae attached to soil and plants that feed all sorts of critters. These are in turn eaten by fish that, as we know, become food for birds and for humans too. Nine mile pond . ...