the gift of algae

Yesterday our culture curator brought me a present -- my very own bottled algae culture. She says it was in thanks for doing a good job teaching last quarter, but I think she also likes to make these. They survive pretty much indefinitely in their little bottles, and most labs in the building seem to have at least one bottle hanging around.



The feathery guys are Batophora, each of which is a single cell. (Crazy talk, but apparently true.) The little bulbs are Ventricaria, also single cells but multinucleate. Biology yay!