Search found 274 matches

by Lilly Begonia
Mon Mar 12, 2018 7:24 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

It's rather odd that most of the water bears I found were in fact dormant. I've only seen a few that were moving. I've been wondering about that. Actually it's been the same with rotifers I've found, very few moving, and the great majority dormant. I've no idea why. How / where do you store your sa...
by Lilly Begonia
Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:55 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

evaporation starts immediately, especially with well prepared thin samples, where there is little or no convex meniscus outside then cover slip perimeter. 3 things will help slow it down 1) using larger coverslips. the little 20 x 20mm ones commonly sold are difficult with samples based on water. U...
by Lilly Begonia
Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:24 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Could there be some kind of contaminant in the vessels you're using to collect your samples? Maybe some residual detergent or chlorinated water? Just a thought. I've been curious since your started posting your photos of water bears (which are very nice by the way!). I haven't seen a *lot* of them,...
by Lilly Begonia
Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:15 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Adding water, keeps the dissolved solids in the sample at a reasonably constant level, so the pressure inside the cell remains relatively constant and the organism doesn't go into a frantic search for a less hostile environment. Einman, yes the salt content would increase and eventually slow things...
by Lilly Begonia
Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:31 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

I have seen it as well. Your question regarding the behavior of the vacuole is apt. Cytolysis is the result of a hypotonic environment resulting in water entering the cell. However, as the water evaporates on a slide you would expect to get a hypertonic situation where the dissolved salts etc in th...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:46 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Momma water flea with baby
Replies: 4
Views: 2553

Momma water flea with baby

Okay, it's not as interesting as the very weird thing, but I think it's cute:

Image
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 2:09 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: curious hairy thing in pond water
Replies: 3
Views: 2682

curious hairy thing in pond water

I'm not sure this is a real organism, it may be just a piece of something, but I found it quite curious:

Image
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:58 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

clengman wrote:Is it possible that the pond you took these from is brackish water and not fresh?
No, it's not. Inland lake nowhere near the Gulf of Mexico, or any canals.
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:58 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Possibly Loxodes Aha! I think you are right Francisco! I looked on google for the images of Loxodes, and there were very similar images to what I've seen when I first spotted this thing! I'm thinking it's Loxodes Striatus. That round body inside it would seem to be what it ejected to produce that c...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:54 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Okay, I just found a third one of these, and it did the very same thing the last one did, trailed out that cloudy stuff and disappeared into it. It seemed to get smaller and smaller as it trailed that cloudy stuff, twirling around and around as it trailed it out, and there seemed to be some kind of ...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:03 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Nice photos. Strange, for me, ciliate. Its "flexibility" and shape remind (a little) of Loxophyllum meleagris. It would be very interesting to get a correct identification of this "strange" and interesting ciliated. Gosh Francisco, I thought sure you would know what it is. This makes it all the mor...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:51 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Okay, I found another one, and this one did something very strange. It swam around for a while as I chased it around the slide, and then it began trailing some kind of cloudy substance which it enveloped itself in and disappeared! It's there, I'm sure of it, you just cannot see it at all! I tried to...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:50 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Lilly, Please forgive my ignorance of your local geography: Is this the 'RSW lake' from which you are collecting such wonders ? https://www.google.com/maps/@26.5391769,-81.7660792,16z/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB&gl=US http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Southwest_Florida_International_Airport MichaelG. It's the ...
by Lilly Begonia
Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:38 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

I agree with John -- You did it again! I've never seen anything like that -- It reminds me of the Spanish Dancer nudibranch I saw in a documentary of ocean life. I too have no idea what this might be but I will watch this thread closely. Thank you Pat. I never expected to see anything like this, no...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:26 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

What a fascinating creature !! The still images give the surface structure, which is sadly missing from the video: ... But the video shows that astonishing, and beautiful, motion. I was captivated. Sadly, I don't have the faintest idea what it might be. MichaelG. Yes Michael it is indeed a fascinat...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:06 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

Re: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

Aha Lily! You've done it again! What an odd-looking 'thing' - the 'wavy lines' on it are interesting. I'm looking forward to this adventure - someone here will have a very good idea what it is - these folk have masses of expertise and experience with such critters. Thanks again, John B. :) Thank yo...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 7:18 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Can anyone tell me what this is?
Replies: 12
Views: 6361

Re: Can anyone tell me what this is?

This is an egg, and you can see the beginnings of segments inside, which are characteristic of arthropods like insects. I don't have the expertise to say exactly which kind, but for instance you can find pictures of midge eggs (though usually in masses) that look much like this, complete with the o...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 7:03 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Can anyone tell me what this is?
Replies: 12
Views: 6361

Re: Can anyone tell me what this is?

jimur wrote:Something moved, as the photos are showing opposing sides.
No, that's two different ones. The second is two frame lines down on the slide from the first. If you'll note in my post I said I'd found another one.
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 6:53 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: The very weirdest thing I've yet seen
Replies: 30
Views: 12639

The very weirdest thing I've yet seen

I was scanning through a slide during a rather boring morning at the scope when I came upon the very weirdest thing I've yet seen on my scope. This organism is from the RSW lake water I sampled last week. I've looked through a LOT of pond water, but never saw anything like this thing. It moved like ...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 6:35 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Can anyone tell me what this is?
Replies: 12
Views: 6361

Re: Can anyone tell me what this is?

Please tell us if this object is active, was it moving about when you observed it? What objective magnification spec were these images captured with, what overall magnification would you estimate we are enjoying here? What sample is this object from? thanks for all your terrific microscopy posting,...
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:20 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Can anyone tell me what this is?
Replies: 12
Views: 6361

Re: Can anyone tell me what this is?

clengman wrote:Some kind of flatworm?
I don't think so... I've seen flatworms before, this is not like them. I really have no idea. Not a ciliate, no internal motion, I'm stumped.
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 4:51 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Can anyone tell me what this is?
Replies: 12
Views: 6361

Can anyone tell me what this is?

I've no idea, just found it in pond water, and I've never seen one of these before. Very different:

Image

And I just found another one...

Image
by Lilly Begonia
Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:42 am
Forum: Beginner's corner
Topic: First bacterial culture
Replies: 7
Views: 4571

Re: First bacterial culture

I note it doesn't seem to matter WHAT I cultured. Hint: It wasn't yersenia pestis. But I'm not even asked. Moving right along....
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:41 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Re: Sample from new pond: what turned up

The first image is indeed a copepod, and in particular a nauplius larva, an early stage with only three pairs of appendages. The desmids are Closterium . The statoblast is from a plumatellid – these are their resting stages, much like asexual eggs, with the little polygons around the outside acting...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:29 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Re: Sample from new pond: what turned up

Several nice finds, thanks for sharing them with us. Next time you find one of those desmids, look closely at the tips... often you can see small droplets of oil dancing in them. Some of your images show these droplets, perhaps you didn't notice them. These desmids are rather large, perhaps some we...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:09 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Re: Sample from new pond: what turned up

Last one looks like a Statoblast Oh! Statoblast! I love it! What a great name! Right out of Fireball XL 5 in the 60's! I am intrigued by it's shell and the purpose of it's structure, particularly the dark bits in it toward the bottom, but what I'm most curious about is the two-legged horned rotifer...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:06 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Re: Sample from new pond: what turned up

Good haul. :) The "whopper" is an amphipod, the "water flea" is another copepod. The "space alien" is, indeed, a rotifer (a brachionid, I think...not sure, I usually ignore rotifers ;) ). Yes Bruce I was thinking copepod for the water flea too because of it's tail. Amphipod is a class of animal I'v...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:28 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Re: Sample from new pond: what turned up

Green thingies are Desmids, last image may well be a country cousin of the Loch Ness monster I suppose it could be, I've never seen anything quite like it before, but that's what's so fun about this, that at any moment you can find something you never could have imagined. Could it perhaps be a test...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:56 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Sample from new pond: what turned up
Replies: 12
Views: 5458

Sample from new pond: what turned up

I was at a pond in a gated community yesterday in Naples, 33 miles south of where I live, and got a sample of it. It turns out to be quite different fauna than what I've found near my house and in the other gated community, or at the lake at RSW. After recovering sufficiently from yesterday's shift ...
by Lilly Begonia
Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:03 am
Forum: Beginner's corner
Topic: First bacterial culture
Replies: 7
Views: 4571

Re: First bacterial culture

Good job! You said you grew them yourself. Is it possible to tell me what you did to grow them? Well I bought some petri dishes on Amazon that had the nutrient agar already in them, then used a cotton swab to smear what I wanted to culture across the agar. The cultures expressed themselves in a cou...