conjugating

Description:

Chlamydomonas (clam-ee-dough-moan-ass) a common volvocid (green alga) flagellate. Cells vary in shape from elongate to rounded, this being one of the more elongate cells. With a cell wall, a cup-shaped chloroplasts with chlorophyll B, a red eyespot located external to the plastid, and two equal flagella emerging from the anterior pole of the cell. These cells undergo a form of sexual reproduction referred to as conjugation in which two similar to near similar cells fuse and exchange genetic information. Animations by Rosemary Arbur of flagellar beat patterns are available here. Differential interference contrast. Material from Nymph Creek and Nymph Lake, thermal sites within Yellowstone National Park, photograph by Kathy Sheehan and David Patterson.