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Many different diatoms can be found in the creek. Diatoms are yellow green/golden brown algae that belong to the phyla Chrysophyta ("golden brown plant"). Diatoms are easily recognized by their color and their glass like appearance under the microscope. Their cell wall is a two part shell composed of silica dioxide. They are all microscopic but can form colonies that are visible without using the microscope. When viewing this particular colonial representive, the light/heat produced by the microscope makes the cells in the colony begin to alternate extending end to end and then sliding back to a stack of cells. We nicknamed it the "sliding/extending algae".