Navicula

Navicula
	Navicula bullata (left)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Diaphoretickes
Clade:	SAR
Clade:	Stramenopiles
Phylum:	Gyrista
Subphylum:	Ochrophytina
Class:	Bacillariophyceae
Order:	Naviculales
Family:	Naviculaceae
Genus:	Navicula; Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1822
Type species
	Navicula tripunctata;
Species
	List of Navicula species;

Navicula is a genus of boat-shaped diatom algae, comprising over 1,200 species.^[1] Navicula is Latin for "small ship", and also a term in English for a boat-shaped incense-holder.^[2]

Diatoms — eukaryotic, primarily aquatic, single-celled photosynthetic organisms — play an important role in global ecology, producing about a quarter of all the oxygen within Earth's biosphere, often serving as foundational organisms, or keystone species in the food chain of many environments where they provide a staple for the diets of many aquatic species.

Mobility

Navicula diatoms have been observed to possess a motile ability to glide over one another and on hard surfaces such as microscope slides.^[3]^[4]^[5] Around the outside of the navicula's shell is a girdle of mucilage strands that can flow and thus act as a tank track.^[6]

Navicula tripunctata
type species scale= 50 μm
Lyrella hennedy
Navicula oblonga
Navicula oblonga

References

^ M.D. Guiry (2015). Guiry, M.D.; Guiry, G.M. (eds.). "AlgaeBase". World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, "Navicula. 3"
^ Navicula Diatom: Youtube video
^ Gupta, S; Agrawal, SC (2007). "Survival and motility of diatoms Navicula grimmei and Nitzschia palea affected by some physical and chemical factors". Folia Microbiol (Praha). 52 (2): 127–34. doi:10.1007/BF02932151. PMID 17575911. S2CID 20030370.
^ J Microbiol Methods. 2013 Mar;92(3):349-54. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2013.01.006. Epub 2013 Jan 18. Semi-circular microgrooves to observe active movements of individual Navicula pavillardii cells. Umemura K1, Haneda T, Tanabe M, Suzuki A, Kumashiro Y, Itoga K, Okano T, Mayama S.
^ Chen, Lei; Weng, Ding; Du, Chuan; Wang, Jiadao; Cao, Shan (14 May 2019). "Contribution of frustules and mucilage trails to the mobility of diatom Navicula sp". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 7342. Bibcode:2019NatSR...9.7342C. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-43663-z. PMC 6517400. PMID 31089153.