Search found 194 matches

by actinophrys
Wed Nov 15, 2023 6:25 pm
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Pond water aquarium for home
Replies: 16
Views: 5995

Re: Pond water aquarium for home

Plants aren't a good substitute for an aerator in a small habitat since they only produce oxygen during the day.
by actinophrys
Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:15 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: pieris scales
Replies: 10
Views: 2058

Re: some scales

Wow. Did you do some special preparation, or are the wings really that transparent even with the scales?
by actinophrys
Sat Jun 03, 2023 4:38 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: New to me segmented worm
Replies: 2
Views: 975

Re: New to me segmented worm

Nice catch. The rigid segments are because it is not truly a worm, it's an insect larva. This is one of the Ceratopogonidae, little flies variously called punkies, no-see-ums, or biting midges.
by actinophrys
Tue May 30, 2023 2:12 am
Forum: Beginner's corner
Topic: Try my AI Rotifer Classifier
Replies: 13
Views: 2124

Re: Try my AI Rotifer Classifier

Neat experiment. I tried it out with some from my page. It did a good job recognizing the wider and loricate ploimids as Mongononta, but missed more worm-like types like Taphrocampa , Notommata , and Cephalodella . It also mislabeled all the gnesiotroch rotifers as Bdelloidea, even Testudinella , I ...
by actinophrys
Thu May 18, 2023 7:44 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: An intriguing freshwater specimen.
Replies: 11
Views: 2160

Re: An intriguing freshwater specimen.

Although bdelloids are the most familiar, rotifers come in a wonderful variety of shapes. This one is Platyias. I imagine the spines on the front and back are to make it just that much harder for something to swallow.
by actinophrys
Mon Apr 24, 2023 10:20 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Stalked ciliate on mayfly nymph
Replies: 18
Views: 3194

Re: Stalked ciliate on mayfly nymph

Sorry to add to the derail, but as far as eukaryotes developing from within archaea, I would say the matter does not seem as settled as that. See for instance Devos, 2021 for an alternate look at Asgardarchaeota and what we can learn from them.
by actinophrys
Mon Mar 20, 2023 7:32 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: A giant rotifer in Amsterdam
Replies: 8
Views: 959

Re: A giant rotifer in Amsterdam

Sexual dimorphism is standard for monogonont rotifers like this one, where most individuals are female and can reproduce parthenogenetically, and males are small and only occur on occasion. In bdelloid rotifers there actually aren't any males at all. Usually all-female animals are isolated species a...
by actinophrys
Mon Mar 20, 2023 2:15 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: A giant rotifer in Amsterdam
Replies: 8
Views: 959

Re: A giant rotifer in Amsterdam

This is lovely work. The rotifer is Asplanchna, a large predatory type with jaws that extend to grab prey. They are also viviparous, hence the eggs developing inside.
by actinophrys
Sun Mar 12, 2023 5:41 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Is this a type/baby rotifer?
Replies: 2
Views: 692

Re: Is this a type/baby rotifer?

This is the rotifer Testudinella, with a chydorid water flea for good measure. :)
by actinophrys
Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:45 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Help with Identity
Replies: 3
Views: 1277

Re: Help with Identity

It's a nauplius larva, and in particular a baby copepod. So it will grow up to be one of the fiercest predators for its size. :)
by actinophrys
Tue Feb 22, 2022 12:15 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Diatom and a crustacean video
Replies: 2
Views: 991

Re: Diatom and a crustacean video

A nice little video. The creature on the diatom is not a crustacean or an animal. It's a single-celled ciliate, one where the cilia are fused into cirri which act like legs for crawling. There are lots of types like that, but this one is a Euplotes.
by actinophrys
Tue Dec 21, 2021 8:50 pm
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Where To Find Cyanobacteria
Replies: 13
Views: 4034

Re: Where To Find Cyanobacteria

Like others have said, it's not difficult to grow some cyanobacteria. If it ever helps, though, you can also find places where they've grown into visible mats and films. I have had luck finding them at the edges of marshes and lakes, where they are generally darker than green algae, and whenever I h...
by actinophrys
Sat Dec 11, 2021 2:30 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Identification help - found - Mytilina (Rotifera)
Replies: 2
Views: 1238

Re: Identification help

It is indeed a rotifer. In particular this one is a Mytilina...the toes on a short foot, posterior spines, and especially the dorsal furrow shown well in the third clip are all characteristic.
by actinophrys
Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:35 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Squatinella Rotifer
Replies: 5
Views: 1876

Re: Squatinella Rotifer

I always wonder where in the world that name comes from? The name Squatinella ? It's a diminutive from Squatina , the angel sharks, which have a vaguely similar shape if you ignore the paired fins. If you are interested and will forgive some self-promotion I have tried to collect some etymologies o...
by actinophrys
Fri Oct 29, 2021 10:33 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Leviathan ID (segmented aquatic worm)
Replies: 9
Views: 3114

Re: Leviathan ID (segmented aquatic worm)

So this is as said a string of zoids, which will ultimately separate. It is not actually a segmented worm but a flatworm, where there are several types that typically occur in chains of two or more. In particular this looks like Catenula , since the front of each zoid is marked off by a ciliated col...
by actinophrys
Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:27 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Pigmented Ciliate
Replies: 9
Views: 2745

Re: Pigmented Ciliate

This one is for sure Blepharisma . Besides the distinctive pink colour, which comes from a defensive quinone, you can see a lot of details in your image: the row of membranelles down the side, the simple cilia in rows over the rest of the cell, and the posterior water expulsion vesicle. There are pi...
by actinophrys
Wed Sep 15, 2021 4:52 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Bob the mosquito munching on a paramecium
Replies: 7
Views: 2019

Re: Bob the mosquito munching on a paramecium

Definitely a chironomid, or midge as they are called. They are related to mosquitos but the larvae live in different kinds of water and the adults don't bite. Not all the ciliates are clear but the one that gets eaten is a type of hypotrich, which are generally flattened ciliates that use cirri (com...
by actinophrys
Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:41 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Spiraling Organisms?
Replies: 7
Views: 3944

Re: Spiraling Organisms?

This is a spirillum. Spirochaetes are also helical in shape, but generally thinner with tight coils and actually move very differently, flexing as they go. Whereas spirilla are rigid and actually swim using tufts of flagella at the poles. Bacterial flagella work by turning, and this puts a torque on...
by actinophrys
Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:45 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: More from the pond - Rotifer?
Replies: 8
Views: 3253

Re: More from the pond - Rotifer?

There's nothing wrong with just leaving it at rotifer if you're happy with that...but know there are a lot of types that are easy enough to recognize at a glance. This one is a Monommata , as shown by its long mismatched toes. Whether rotifers and cephalopods have a lot in common is I guess a matter...
by actinophrys
Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:40 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Gastrotricha, rotifer and water flea?
Replies: 10
Views: 4476

Re: Gastrotricha, rotifer and water flea?

The second is for sure a bdelloid, and you for instance get a glimpse of some features like the dorsal antenna. It is not Adineta , which do not move like this...instead the wheels are contracted because it is crawling rather than feeding. Unfortunately without seeing those or eyes I think identific...
by actinophrys
Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:57 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: From the microbe aquarium
Replies: 6
Views: 2605

Re: From the microbe aquarium

Seconded that these are lovely images. For the record, the rotifer is a Lepadella, where the foot is in a distinct notch in the lorica. In Euchlanis the lorica is instead folded over the foot, which emerges from a space between dorsal and ventral plates.
by actinophrys
Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:22 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: A Flatworm(Rhabdocoela)-Solved
Replies: 5
Views: 2733

Re: A Flatworm(Rhabdocoela)

I think this might be a Stenostomum . I don't see the pharynx you would expect for Rhabdocoela, and it looks to be partly divided into two zoids. That is something you also see in Microstomum , but here I think you can just make out the ciliated pits characteristic of Stenostomum behind the front, w...
by actinophrys
Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:40 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: Cavlier - Smith
Replies: 10
Views: 4806

Re: Cavlier - Smith

So, when the traditional taxonomist asks, as R.K. Brummit famously did in the pages of Taxon , "Am I a Bony Fish?", I enthusiastically say, "Yes! Yes, you are a bony fish!" and have always encouraged my kids to do the same. :D Well, see, I would differ on that. In this case I am glad to see classes...
by actinophrys
Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:07 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Calling on flatworm conoisseurs
Replies: 2
Views: 1578

Re: Calling on flatworm conoisseurs

The barrel-shaped pharynx and tapering tail confirm this is indeed one of the Dalyelliidae, whereas for instance Macrostomum would have a simple slit-shaped mouth and a broader tail. Unfortunately the different genera are not easy to separate; keys mostly go by details of the genital structures whic...
by actinophrys
Mon Feb 08, 2021 1:10 am
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: Cavlier - Smith
Replies: 10
Views: 4806

Re: Cavlier - Smith

His reasons for carving out Animalia and Fungi as separate "kingdoms" are pragmatic, not phylogenetic. It preserves continuity with old and familiar models used in schools and textbooks...and I can certainly see advantages to that. For one thing, it makes his system an attractive framework for gene...
by actinophrys
Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:36 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Aeolosoma hunting Urocentrum turbo
Replies: 3
Views: 2156

Re: Aeolosoma hunting Urocentrum turbo

These are neat finds. However they are not actually Aeolosoma , which like you can see in Plasmid's video have broad muscular prostomia to scrounge up food and are typically full of coloured oil droplets. Instead these are naidids. The first one is a Chaetogaster , which are noted as predators of a ...
by actinophrys
Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:27 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: First life found under a microscope
Replies: 7
Views: 2858

Re: First life found under a microscope

Some nice finds. The jelly-like organisms look to be ciliates of some sort, the first very possibly Stentor which tend to contract when they swim. The larva is a ceratopogonid fly, what variously get called punkies, biting midges, or no-see-ums depending on where you are. The one enjoying lunch is a...
by actinophrys
Thu Oct 01, 2020 4:32 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Need Help to ID
Replies: 8
Views: 3456

Re: Need Help to ID

Some nice finds here. 1. is actually a Lecane , since the lorica opens on the sides and the foot is a single spike, not Lepadella which have an annulated foot in a notch. 2. is a colonial green algae, but seems to me loosely packed for Pandorina , and I think is more likely Eudorina or Yamagishiella...
by actinophrys
Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:48 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Aeolosoma?
Replies: 7
Views: 2862

Re: Aeolosoma?

This is not actually a segmented worm like Aeolosoma, but a flatworm. I am not quite used to them in this kind of lighting but I think it shows the sensory pits associated with Stenostomum.
by actinophrys
Mon May 25, 2020 5:58 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Hungry fella
Replies: 5
Views: 2469

Re: Hungry fella

This is one of the Naididae, microscopic worms from the same major group as earthworms. I am not an expert but think the proboscis and the extra long second pair of setae mark this one as Pristina.