Diatom
Movement
Adult diatoms are truly planktonic; they have no mechanisms for swimming
against water currents. Given the fact that all kinds of marine organisms
build up boundary layers of depleted nutrients and concentrated wastes in
the waters near them, absolute inability to move relative to nearby water
is an increasingly desperate situation. Without the ability to swim, buoyancy
control -- sinking -- may be the only means for diatoms to control their position and
escape nutrient-depleted boundary layers in the
water nearby.
Diatom Main Menu
Photo Gallery
Pennales
Anatomy
and Morphology
copyright John Becker 1996.
Last updated: Oct. 21, 2005
|