Through an optical microscope, you will find patches of green algal mats, just as beautiful as emeralds in the water, and this “green gem in the algae” is what scientists call Scenedesmus.
Scenedesmus is a genus in the family Scenedesmaceae of the order Chlorococcales in the phylum Chlorophyta. The plant body is usually a true and definite colony composed of 4 to 8 cells, and sometimes the colony is composed of 2 or 16 to 32 cells, but it is extremely rare to be a single cell under natural conditions.
The morphology of Scenedesmus cells is diverse, including spherical, triangular, quadrangular, fusiform, oblong, conical, truncated pyramidal, etc. The cell wall is smooth or with granules, spines, teeth or raised lines. The chromatophore is parietal, lamellar or cup-shaped, usually one, and sometimes spreads after growing up and almost fills the entire cell, with 1 to 2 pyrenoids.
Scenedesmus widely lives in ponds, lakes, ditches, small puddles, and various culture tanks and other water bodies, and is a common and important planktonic alga. It has strong tolerance to organic pollutants and has a certain role in water self-purification and sewage purification, and is a dominant species in the biological phase of organic sewage oxidation ponds.
Scenedesmus also has important application value in aquaculture. Its cells contain rich proteins and vitamins, and can accumulate a relatively high amount of astaxanthin, making it a high-quality bait organism. At the same time, Scenedesmus also has photosynthetic pigments and can carry out photosynthesis to supply oxygen to the water body. In addition, when dealing with polluted water bodies, Scenedesmus has the advantages of safety and no secondary pollution.
In short, Scenedesmus is an alga with important ecological and economic values, and is of great significance for maintaining the balance and stability of aquatic ecosystems and aquaculture.
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