oil droplets secreted from colony

Fat with hydrocarbons and blebbing oil droplets

Ejecting single cells bloated with oil from colonies. Why are they doing this? Stressed? Making new daughter colonies?

Scanning electron microscopy, looking like a mandarin orange slice

Scanning electron microscope. Thanks, Sarah, for figuring out what’s what!

Composite fluorescent image showing chlorophyll auto-fluorescence and DAPI staining. When focused on the surface of the diatom cell, light refracts through the silica shell and results in a DAPI glow and shadows created by thicker features in the silica shell appear.

Composite fluorescent image showing chlorophyll auto-fluorescence and DAPI staining. The focal plain is at the bottom face of the cell, revealing the bacterial community associating with the diatom.

Light microscope image of rhopalodia gibba. Two ‘Spheroid body’ cyanobacterial endosymbionts can be seen in the center of the cell.

Fluorescent image of a culture of rhopalodia gibba. The fluorescent property of chlorophyll makes cells appear red.