Marine Biology (2+1)

Construction of a simple Utermohl’s chamber and Utermohl’s compound chamber

Construction of a simple Utermohl’s chamber

Tubular pieces of plexiglass or wide glass tubings are cut to suitable lengths and their ends are ground to make them smooth. A circular transparent glass piece is then cemented at the lower end of each cylinder piece with an adhesive like Araldite or Quickfix. The chamber is then closed above by a loose circular or square glass plate.

Construction of Utermohl’s compound chamber

It has a total volume of 10-50 ml and is a combination of a shallow chamber resembling that of Kolkwitz and a Utermohl’s tubular chamber. On the top of the square and shallow chamber of 2 ml capacity with a sedimentation height of 4 mm, a tubular chamber with a square brim similar to that of bottom chamber at it’s lower end and open at both the ends is so placed that it is water-tight. The diameter of the upper tubular chamber should also be similar to that of the bottom chamber.