Monoculture of penate diatoms isolated from Flax Pond, Long Island, New York. These diatoms were isolated by George Varas, an undergraduate student working on the importance of diatoms as a source of heavy metals in the diet of the polychaete worm Nereis succinea. Diatoms move very slowly. In this loop , frames have been shortened making them move a lot faster than they do in real life.