Spirogyra Alga Characteristics

Spirogyra Alga

It is also known as pond silk.

It is highly photosynthetic and lives in fresh water or stagnant water.

They are temperature dependent. I.e. when the level of temperature becomes high it starts reproduction stage

And when the level of temperature becomes low they start vegetative reproduction.

BODY of Spirogyra Alga.

Their bodies are made of filaments or they are filament like.

Hold fast.

It is a cell to which all the young spirogyra is attached.

It has high rhizoids used for absorption.

They may be or may not be present.

In case of mature spirogyra they are free and float freely.

Cell wall of Spirogyra Alga.

The outer membrane of each filament is made of cell wall. It is the protecting layer. It is made of cellulose.

Nucleus of Spirogyra Alga.

The nucleus may be one or may be multinucleated.

Chloroplast of Spirogyra Alga.

The chloroplast is the main photosynthetic pigment in spirogyra. One filament may contain 1 to 12 or even 24 chloroplast. The chloroplast is arranged spirally and because of this spirally arrangement of chloroplast they are known as spirogyra.

Organelles

They have a large vacuole, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, endoplasmic reticulum. The vacuole contains reserve food material.

REPRODUCTION

The reproduction may be vegetative or sexual.

VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION

·         The vegetative reproduction may be due to the separation of the filaments.

·         It may be due to the invagination of the cross walls of the cell.

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

Oogamous or conjugation type of reproduction is found in the spirogyra.

Conjugation is of two types,

1) Scaliriform conjugation

        It is a parallel type of conjugation.

2) Lateral conjugation.

                In lateral conjugation the nucleus is transfer from the one to another which increase in its size and other become empty or degenerate.

PROCESS OF REPRODUCTION

After fertilization diploid nucleus is formed. After this meiosis occurs s and 4 cells are produced out of these four cells three becomes degenerate and the fourth one become generate and developed into new spirogyra.