Back to the Garden 5
November 9, 2017
Another element that associates with bacteria in water the way iron does is sulfur. The evidence in Ohio’s Vermilion River is more rare than the evidence for iron bacteria (shown in yesterday’s post), but it was there last month.
Romancing Reality 
The blue color looks almost iridescent. Another gorgeous shot.
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November 9, 2017 at 10:53 AM
Thanks, Ken. In person this stuff in this location almost looks like it’s glowing. I think it’s just very very white seen against a dark part of the river bed and surrounded by black stuff. See https://lindagrashoff.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/evidence-of-sulfur-bacteria-in-the-vermilion-river/. I can’t say what the bluishness is from.
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November 9, 2017 at 11:51 AM
Linda, if ever a person might get hooked on chemolithtrophic bacteria, you’d be the agent. Given that E Florida seems to not be sulfury, nor irony, you think there’s be any way to spot any chemo-breathing bacteria over here, say around Jupiter/Stuart/WPB?
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November 10, 2017 at 5:24 PM
That’s funny, George. I don’t know where you might look for evidence of the chemolithotrophic bacteria out your way. I have seen the green and the purple sulfur bacteria in a tributary to the Myakka River on the west coast of the state, and the white kind in a mangrove swamp, also on the left coast. You might see what Betsey Dexter Dyer has to say in her book A Field Guide to Bacteria. I hope you’ll feature it on your blog if you find any!
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November 10, 2017 at 8:09 PM
good idea thanks
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November 10, 2017 at 11:32 PM