Selected Slides for Recognition
Variety of Kingdoms

1. Aspergillus: Filaments suggest fungus. Appears like a "dandelion"

A much higher power magnification (copyrighted picture from ASM Journal) of aspergillus.

2. Rhizopus: Filaments suggest fungus. Appears like a "golfball on tee".

Another specimen of Rhizopus. Compare the two images for similarities. In general, key on the shapes not on the colors.

 

A much higher magnification of Rhizopus (copyrighted picture from ASM Journal).

3. Penicillium: Filament structure suggests fungus. Appears like a "paintbrush" or "skeletal hand".

4. Euglena: The dot is the nucleus.

Another slide of euglena. Compare the two images. In general, key on the shapes not on the colors.

5. Trypanosoma: Causes african sleeping sickness. The parasite is transmitted by the Tse Tse fly.

6. Diatoms: Very regular, geometric in shape. The structure is made from silicon and has a top that fits over a bottom.

Another slide of diatoms.

7. Volvox: This is a much different view than usual. Typically, the slide will show the whole organism, which is a hollow ballon-like structure. The view here shows a cross-section of the balloon. It is one cell thick and shows a daughter colony inside.

8. Bacterial Types: coccus, bacillus, spirillum.

Mixed Types

bacillus: They may look stunted and roundish, depending on their growth conditions, but will usually show a few true rod shapes.

Another view of bacillus, not quite so clear but note the roundish shapes and the rod shapes.

 
 Coccus

9. Flagella:

10. Capsules: The clear areas are where the capsule is located. It appears clear because the stain does not attach to the material in the capsule. The small dash in the center of the clear area is the bacteria.

Capsule close up (400x)

11. Trichinella spiralis in tissue

This organism is available on slides that show the organism as individual “worms” or in infected tissue. When seen in tissue the orientation of the worm may make it somewhat difficult to visualize. The worm is wound up in a spiral in a cocoon in the muscle tissue and, depending on the way the tissue is sliced, the worm will be recognized easily or not quite so easily. Student slide may just  be the worm alone, not in tissue as shown here.

11. Streptococcus pyogenes: This slide in included to show the "chain" i.e. strepto arrangement of some bacteria. The arrangement refers to the grouping of bacteria. In this case the bacteria are grouped in a chain.
 

 12. Staphylococcus aureus:  This slide in included to show the "cluster" i.e. "staphylo" arrangement of some bacteria. The arrangement refers to the grouping of bacteria. In this case the bacteria are grouped in a cluster like a cluster of grapes. Due to the resolution of the picture, the individual bacteria in the cluster may not be that evident. It should be readily apparent when viewed under a microscope.
 
 12. Escherichia coli:  This slide in included to show the classic gram negative bacillus.  Due to the growth conditions the bacteria may not all be obviously rod shaped; however, there should be some that do show the obvious rod shape. "If you see a rod in the midst of a bunch of short fat things that could be ovals (assuming the culture is pure), the organism's morphology is bacillus (it's a rod)".
 

13. Archaebacteria: Externally look like bacteria but "genetically" more like eukaryotic cells. In the Archaea Domain.