| Thallus | composed of numerous colonies or isolated ensheathed cells | composed of numerous colonies or rarely isolated ensheathed cells |
|---|
| Colony shape | | Mostly irregular, sometimes rounded | |
|---|
| Number of cells in colony | | Variable (up to 32–64 cells or more) | |
|---|
| Mucilage | colorless | Firm surrounding cells and colonies colorless to colorless colorless to brownish brownish | colorless |
|---|
| Cell size | 3.0–4.8 μm long (mean = 3.7 μm), 2.0–3.3 μm wide (mean = 2.7 μm) | 3.4–5.8 μm long (mean = 4.5 μm), 2.5–4.6 μm wide (mean = 3.5 μm) | 2.8–3.7 μm long (mean = 3.3 ± 0.3 μm, n = 40), 2.0–2.7 μm wide (mean = 2.2 ± 0.2 μm, n = 40) | 1.5–3.2 μm long (mean = 2.6 ± 0.4 μm), 1.5–2.4 μm wide (mean = 1.9 ± 0.2 μm) | 1.6–6.87 μm long (mean = 4.41 ± 0.16 μm, n = 40), 1.17–5.85 μm wide (mean = 3.45 ± 0.12 μm, n = 40) |
|---|
| Length/ Wide | 1.1–2 (mean = 1.4) | 1.0–1.7 (mean = 1.3) | 1.3–1.7 (mean = 1.5) | 0.7–2.0 (mean = 1.3 ± 0.2) | 1.00–1.75 (mean = 1.28) |
|---|
| Cell shape | sometimes irregular | less frequently near spherical or irregular | Cylindrical with rounded ends less frequently near spherical or irregular |
|---|
| Cell content | Granulated, sometimes homogeneous | Slightly granulated, sometimes homogeneous | Granulated, sometimes homogeneous |
|---|
| Color | | | Blue-green | | |
|---|
| Reproduction | | Simple binary cell division in three or more planes | |
|---|
| References | Rigonato et al. (2016) | Zhang et al. (2018) | Jung et al. (2020) | this study |
|---|