Flagellar autofluorescence in forty-four chlorophyll c-containing algae

A survey of flagellar autofluorescence was made in 44 species of chlorophyll c-containing algae. In the five species of Chrysophyceae examined, flagellar autofluorescence was observed throughout the length of the short smooth flagellum, but only when this was associated with an eyespot and a flagellar swelling. In the three species of Synurophyceae, which lack an eyespot and have swellings in both flagella, the fluorescence was also observed in the short smooth flagellum. Among the Xanthophyceae, Botrydiopsis intercedens showed autofluorescence throughout the length of both flagella. It was not detected, however, in either the sperm or the synzoospore of Vaucheria sessilis. Prymnesiophyceae were heterogeneous. Fluorescence was observed in the proximal part of one of the isokont flagella in seven species in four genera of the Prymnesiales and the Isochrysidales, but it was not detected in the coccolithophorids and the Pavlovales examined. Flagellar autofluorescence has not been detected in the Bacillariophyceae, Raphidophyceae, Eustigmatophyceae, Dinophyceae and Cryptophyceae. In the Cryptophyceae, the so-called refractive bodies (corps de Maupas) were noted to show apparent blue autofluorescence.