Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of microbial colony margins?

The correct choice, which identifies a characteristic that is not associated with microbial colony margins, is based on the nature of how margins are defined and described in microbiological observations.

In microbiology, microbial colony margins refer to the edge outline of a colony and can take various shapes. "Entire" describes a smooth, continuous margin, while "lobate" indicates a margin that has lobes or irregular projections. "Filamentous" refers to a margin that has thread-like structures extending outward from the main body of the colony. All these terms provide specific descriptions of how the edges of a colony appear.

On the other hand, "shiny" describes a surface texture rather than the margin itself. While certain colonies can indeed appear shiny, this characteristic does not relate specifically to the shape or structure of the margin. Therefore, it does not belong in the context of describing microbial colony margins as outlined in typical microbiological characterization.