False-coloured SEM of a siliceous skeleton of a diatom, Melosira. Diatoms are one of the most common types of phytoplankton and are found in most aquatic environments including fresh and marine waters ...

The radiating, kaleidoscopic pattern you see here was once the living glass skeleton – the cell wall – of a single-celled organism called a diatom. These organisms absorb silicon from their ...