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Medlin and co-workers erected a new class, Mediophyceae (which could be re-ranked a subclass if diatoms as a whole are ranked as a class rather than a phylum) for the "polar centric" diatoms, which they consider to be more closely related to the pennate rather than to other centric diatoms, a concept which has been followed or further adapted ...
Since diatoms form an important part of the food of molluscs, tunicates, and fishes, the alimentary tracts of these animals often yield forms that are not easily secured in other ways. Diatoms can be made to emerge by filling a jar with water and mud, wrapping it in black paper and letting direct sunlight fall on the surface of the water.
Diatoms are eukaryotic organisms in the phylum Bacillariophyta. This page contains articles about diatoms and diatomists.. Older classifications used to subdivide diatoms into Centrales and Pennales (with Bacillariophyceae used as a class), whereas more recent ones use a three classes system: Bacillariophyceae, Coscinodiscophyceae and Fragilariophyceae.
Dead diatoms drift to the ocean floor where, over millions of years, the remains of their frustules can build up as much as half a mile deep. [64] Diatoms have relatively high sinking speeds compared with other phytoplankton groups, and they account for about 40% of particulate carbon exported to ocean depths. [60] [65] [62]
Diatoms are unique in the sense that they have valves, created by the two halves of a diatom's test. Cyclotella spp. are no exception, as they form the upper and lower portions of the wall. The girdle bands that support the valves are thin strips of silica and ultimately circumscribe the cell.
The frustule is composed almost purely of silica, made from silicic acid, and is coated with a layer of organic substance, which was referred to in the early literature on diatoms as pectin, a fiber most commonly found in cell walls of plants. [1] [2] This layer is actually composed of several types of polysaccharides. [3]
Navicula diatoms are highly motile and move through a gliding movement [3] [4] [5] This is done through excretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). One form of EPS surrounds the outside of the cell and another is excreted through a slit in the frustule called a raphe, allowing the cell to glide along a track.
Naviculaceae is a diatom family in the order Naviculales. Naviculaceae are typically composed of lineate areolae, one of the many forms of areolae. Some of the other areolae are punctate (Gomphoneis) and loculate (Diploneis). [1] These can be found among other families of diatoms including Thalassiosiraceae.