Summary
To understand the functions of the longitudinal and transverse flagella of dinoflagellates, the flagellar waveform and frequency of each flagellum were observed by high-speed video-recording. The longitudinal flagellum emerged from the anterior end of the cell and beat with a planar undulating wave whose plane was perpendicular to the valval sutural plane. The transverse flagellum curved around the anterior end of the cell and beat with a helical wave, with different alternating half pitches. The half pitch corresponding to the parts farther from the cellular antero-posterior axis was shorter than that of the parts closer to the axis. This pattern is described by the ratio of the outer-parts half pitch to the pitch of the whole period of the helix and seems to be characteristic of the dinoflagellates' transverse flagellum.
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Abbreviations
- p in :
-
half pitch corresponding to the inner parts of the transverse flagellum
- p out :
-
half pitch corresponding to the outer parts of the transverse flagellum
- P p :
-
pitch of helical swimming trajectory
- R p :
-
radius of helical swimming trajectory
- Ωc :
-
rotational frequency of the cell
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Miyasaka, I., Nanba, K., Furuya, K. et al. High-speed video observation of swimming behavior and flagellar motility ofProrocentrum minimum (Dinophyceae). Protoplasma 204, 38–46 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01282292
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01282292