Oedogonium

Scientific classification
Phylum: Chlorophyta
Class: Chlorophyceae
Order: Oedogoniales
Family: Oedogoniaceae
Genus: Oedogonium
Oedogonium is a genus of filamentous green algae, with unbranched filaments that are one cell
thick. Oedogonium can be free-floating, though it is usually attached to aquatic plants by
a holdfast This filament has both a holdfast disc and a calyptra. It appears greenish and inhabits
calm, fresh water.

Figure Oedgonium

Habitat
It is free-living and sometimes epiphytic on submerged plants growing in similar aquatic
habitats. Found in lakes, ponds and the margins of slow-flowing streams and rivers.

Cell structure
Cells are cylindrical, sometimes slightly broader at the anterior end, characterized by one or
more ringlike caps immediately below the cross wall, each containing a parietal, netlike
chloroplast and several pyrenoids.
Species
Species of Oedogonium are divided into two major groups on the basis of the distribution of the
sex organs:

Macrandous Species
In these species, antheridia are borne on filaments of normal size. This group is further
subdivided into:

Macrandous Monoecious
In these species, antheridia and oogonia are found on the same filament. E.g.: O. nodulosum and
O. fragile.

Macrandous Dioecious
In these species, antheridia and oogonia are borne on different filaments. Although filaments
bearing antheridia and oogonia are morphologically similar, they differ physiologically. E.g.: O.
crassum and O. aquaticum.

Nannandrous Species
In nannandrous species, filaments bearing antheridia and oogonia show morphological
distinction. The male filament, which are much smaller than the female filament, is called a
dwarf male or nannandrium. Nannandrous species are always dioecious, i.e., antheridia and
oogonia are borne on different filaments. The small male filaments are likely to be attached to a
female filament, near an oogonium.

Asexual reproduction
Oedogonium can reproduce asexually by fragmentation of the filaments, through some other
types of non-motile spores, and also through zoospores, which have many flagella. These
develop in its flagella, a zoospore grows into a filament.
Sexual reproduction
The life cycle of Oedogonium is haplontic, i.e., meiosis is zygotic. Antheridia which produce
sperm, and oogonia which produce an egg, release the sperm and egg. The egg and sperm then
fuse and form a zygote which is diploid (2n). The zygote then produces the filamentous green
alga which is haploid (1n).
Life cycle