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Kingdom: Eubacteria Scientific Name: Gloeocapsa Image Courtesy of: Whallon, Joanne Image Width: 7 microns Image Technology: Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy |
This photosynthetic bacterium belongs to a group of bacteria known as a cyanobacteria. Many of these organisms live in ponds. Gleocapsa is a genus name which includes the species gleocapsa and chroococcus. The picture of this microbe may be misleading to your senses. Although this image looks like several fried eggs on a griddle, the organism is actually spherical, with six dark central spheres inside of six additional spheres that cannot be seen. This image, like others in the Microbe Zoo, must be interpreted by you, the scientist. Many times, your brain will have to do some mental morphing to make more accurate models of how microbes actually are in nature. No imaging technique is perfect. Often times, many different imaging techniques must be used to properly interpret the true structure of a microbe.