Genus: Cell body elongated spindle in shape, straight or curved, sharply pointed at both ends; (Guide book to the "Photomicrographs of the Freshwater Algae", 1998).
Species: Cell body elongate fusiform, tapering toward the sharply pointed ends, sigmoid, undulate to helicoidally twisted (1 - 1.5 turns), 16-18 μm long between the ends, 1-2 μm wide; two chloroplasts, parietal, entending into the ends, without pyrenoids; cell division produces 2, 4 or 8 "autospores" (Photomicrographs of the Freshwater Algae, 1996).

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Cell body twisted more than 1 turn
M. contortum ? 38 x 2.5 μm L/W=15 Sendabori Chiba, 2002	M. contortum ? 32 x 2 μm L/W=16 Sayama Saitama, 2002	M. contortum ? μm L/W= Komyo Yoshimi Saitama, 2003	M. contortum ? 140 x 2 μm L/W= water reservoir near Yamaguchi Univ. Yamaguchi, 2004
Cell body curved, slightly twisted ?
M. contortum 35 x 2.5 μm L/W=14 Japan, 1997	M. contortum ? 30 x 2.5 μm L/W=12 Japan, 1997	M. contortum ? 25 x 1.5 μm L/W=17 Japan, 1998	M. contortum ? μm L/W= Doman-green Park Nishi-Urawa Saitama, 2003
M. contortum ? 66 x 2.5 μm L/W=26 Shinobazu-ike Tokyo, 2001	Monoraphidium ? 80 x 5 μm Sannoh-bori Sannoh Park Saitama, 2005

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