Why this website?

Microscopic organisms of vegetable nature, diatoms are constituted by an unique cell and their size varies between some micrometers and a quarter, even sometimes half a millimeter.

Every cell is wrapped by a stiff, transparent siliceous structure, called  frustule, made up of two parts fitting the one into the other one.

Observed in the microscope, many frustules evoke "micro jewels", particularly delicate and esthetic. Yet, the layman has hardly the opportunity to admire their beauty.

Although, since two centuries, many phycologists describe and study the diatoms present in many various aquatic or humid environments, many species remain to be discovered and to be described. 

This site proposes:

-- To allow the amateur curious of things of the nature to discover the originality and the hidden beauty from diatoms

The gallery


-- To present the data obtained in the course of personal investigations:


Communities of diatoms living on sand or mud

Some species, new for the science : Incertae sedis 1 à 6Achnanthes sp.

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