Anabaena / Anabaenopsis

General Description

  • Anabaena cells are usually arranged in filaments or chains and can be straight, spiralled, coiled or spring-like and often dscribed as "beaded"
  • Filaments also have specialized cells called heterocysts and akinetes, used for fixing nitrogen and regenerating cells for future colonies
  • A mucilagenous sheath surrounds the cells of the filament
ana5 ana7
anab2 anabmer
anabaenaspirilis05smscale
anabaena3smscale anabaena_sheath2smscale anabaena1smscale