File:Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme - geograph.org.uk - 1314485.jpg

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Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme

Summary

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Description
English: Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme. The dark blobs shown here are colonies of cyanobacteria (formerly called "blue-green algae", they are bacteria which perform photosynthesis). The colonies are growing on damp limestone, close to the Roughting Burn. They have an outer membrane; inside, chains of green cells are suspended in a brown gel. These colonies are less than a centimetre across, but others nearby formed irregular fused brown masses, several centimetres across.

The ones in this photo are not very typical in appearance; they are rather flattened in form, apparently as a result of only the base of each colony being in water. For more normal-looking specimens, see 1470400. A flat piece that I removed for examination had become round by the time I arrived home.

Nostoc is often found in a free-living state, as shown here, but 10% of lichen species also contain cyanobacteria (rather than algae), the most common such genus being Nostoc.

The name Nostoc (originally "Nostoch") is one of several words coined by Paracelsus (1493-1541), who wrote: "Nostoch understandeth the nocturnal pollution of some plethoriall and wanton Star, or rather excrement blown from the nostrills of some rheumatick planet ... in consistence of jelly". Even today, some refer to mysterious jelly-like substances found outdoors as "star jelly" or "star snot"; see 1000481.

Compare 1470398.

[Note: for convenience, the existing image category of "Algae" was used.]
Date
Source From geograph.org.uk
Author Lairich Rig
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Lairich Rig / Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme / 
Lairich Rig / Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme
Camera location55° 57′ 58.4″ N, 4° 30′ 19″ W  Heading=0° Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo
Object location55° 57′ 58.4″ N, 4° 30′ 19″ W  Heading=0° Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Attribution: Lairich Rig
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current16:31, 27 February 2011Thumbnail for version as of 16:31, 27 February 2011640 × 480 (104 KB)GeographBot (talk | contribs)== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |description={{en|1=Cyanobacteria - Nostoc pruniforme The dark blobs shown here are colonies of cyanobacteria (formerly called "blue-green algae", they are bacteria which perform photosynthesis). The colonies are growi

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