Search found 194 matches

by actinophrys
Sat Aug 13, 2016 2:30 am
Forum: Beginner's corner
Topic: new finds while walking videos
Replies: 23
Views: 9888

Re: new finds while walking videos

The rotifer is a Lecane , which characteristically have a flattened lorica, short foot, and one or two spine-like toes. The worm looks like an Aeolosoma , a segmented worm like earthworms and leeches; you can tell by the shape of the front end or prostomium, which is enlarged and muscular to help p...
by actinophrys
Sat Aug 13, 2016 12:44 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Movie inside - Help needed to identify
Replies: 11
Views: 5170

Re: Movie inside - Help needed to identify

Going through the video: 1:56-2:24 – the possible Euglena are genuinely so, or at worst some other very similar euglenids. Recent studies have split off several new genera that are hard to tell apart, but I'm not sure any of those with metaboly (the shape-changing) are common enough to worry much. 2...
by actinophrys
Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:40 am
Forum: Sandbox
Topic: Opinions and ideas sought for my new website
Replies: 17
Views: 12049

Re: Opinions and ideas sought for my new website

Trying a few different browsers, it looks like when the main window is relatively wide, the main links ( Home through Slide Pictures ) appear straight right from the main title, so are easily hidden by scrolling. When the browser window is narrow they are replaced by a menu bar. This looks ok in Chr...
by actinophrys
Sun Aug 07, 2016 6:50 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Rotifer believe to be Bdelloidea
Replies: 3
Views: 1843

Re: Rotifer believe to be Bdelloidea

You can see a lot of detail in these. For the record, this is indeed a bdelloid; besides the general form there are paired ovaries toward the back, and a pair of spurs above the end of the foot where the smaller toes will be. Then there is the pair of eyes on the end of a forward rostrum, which as f...
by actinophrys
Sat Aug 06, 2016 12:12 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Thousands of tiny bacteria?
Replies: 13
Views: 6348

Re: Thousands of tiny bacteria?

All right, I didn't mean to take over Ray's topic, though I do appreciate the encomium. For many forums like this you can just set a website as part of your profile, but here that seems to be hidden. So you can see, I am doing as asked and adding it as a signature for when I post (it does make some ...
by actinophrys
Thu Aug 04, 2016 6:12 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Thousands of tiny bacteria?
Replies: 13
Views: 6348

Re: Thousands of tiny bacteria?

I'll second that some idea of the size or magnification is often useful, even if it's not precise. The objects you'll see on a forum like this often vary from a few micrometres to several millimetres, a size ratio as from an ant to a blue whale and so with very different creatures at different point...
by actinophrys
Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:40 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Microturtle?
Replies: 9
Views: 3471

Re: Microturtle?

My guess (caution: I am usually wrong :) ) is that it is Monostila which I think is closely related to Lepadella. You're right in this case! This would be a Monostyla , or a Lecane as they are now usually classified. The foot consisting of only a spine-like toe (others have two), rather than an ann...
by actinophrys
Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:22 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: What is it, Dileptus, Litonotus or Lacrymaria olor
Replies: 6
Views: 2852

Re: What is it, Dileptus, Litonotus or Lacrymaria olor

The little head, which marks the mouth and surrounding toxicysts, is distinctive to Lacrymaria (plus shorter relatives like Phialina ). In Pleurostomatida like Litonotus the front end is typically curved with the mouth running along one side, and like you say in Dileptida the front end is a flexible...
by actinophrys
Mon May 30, 2016 8:55 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Just captured this...
Replies: 11
Views: 4109

Re: Just captured this...

In my experience catching an event like this is not common at all! I agree with gekko that the predator is a dipteran larva, eating a nematode. Whether it counts as a midge is a question of semantics. Chironomidae, the true or non-biting midges, would have prolegs behind the head. From the eyes, bod...
by actinophrys
Wed May 18, 2016 11:04 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Algae?
Replies: 9
Views: 2530

Re: Algae?

This is a diatom (which do count as algae too). As you say desmids usually have a central isthmus, or at least a gap in the chloroplast, and aren't generally shaped like this. The thing that makes it seem like one is the greenish colour, where most diatoms are yellowish or brown, but while that's us...
by actinophrys
Tue May 10, 2016 4:36 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: A rotifer and a nemetode
Replies: 13
Views: 4292

Re: A rotifer and a nemetode

Helical bacteria are often larger than most others, though by no means the largest . These ones wouldn't be spirochaetes, though, which tend to be tightly wound and move by flexing like tiny worms; my understanding is they're also hard to see because they're so thin, and live in anaerobic water wher...
by actinophrys
Thu May 05, 2016 4:50 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: New to me
Replies: 17
Views: 7513

Re: New to me

Very neat find! I think this is a Catenula , or maybe its close relative Dasyhormus . These are flatworms with a ciliated groove marking a distinct prostomium in front of the gut; the little round thing within is a statocyst, used in sensing gravity. I didn't realize there was anything like that to ...
by actinophrys
Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:37 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Any ideas about this organism?
Replies: 13
Views: 6550

Re: Any ideas about this organism?

This is a very neat find. I don't agree that it should be assumed a tardigrade, though, when there are lots of other little animals and there doesn't seem to be even a hint of legs to stand on. If the animal is hard to see in detail, the alga is plainly Vaucheria – branched filaments with many small...
by actinophrys
Thu Mar 31, 2016 7:24 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Litonotus grabs a big meal
Replies: 8
Views: 3494

Re: Litonotus grabs a big meal

I have read that Litonotus usually has a single contractile vacuole at its posterior end and this predator appears to have two contractile vacuoles. Interesting video! For the record, most Litonotus do have just the one contractile vacuole, but there are a few species like L. varsaviensis that have...
by actinophrys
Tue Mar 29, 2016 3:45 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Unidentified Round Ciliate
Replies: 10
Views: 3803

Re: Unidentified Round Ciliate

Hi Rod, I'd say this is a round spirotrich rather than anything like Askenasia . I imagine you were leaning toward that because instead of an arc of membranelles, it has a full ring of prominent cilia. But these form a very regular circle, all distinctively curved outward, and it seems are not reall...
by actinophrys
Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:43 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Simocephalus II
Replies: 5
Views: 2382

Re: Simocephalus II

Hi Rod, Not Simocephalus but its relative Ceriodaphnia . Both share the short first antennae and notched back, but the round head and tail spine are characteristic of the latter. Like you said, Simocephalus would have a blunt posterior, and their head has a flat front that extends into a downward be...
by actinophrys
Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:02 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Unidentified -Nymph?
Replies: 6
Views: 2742

Re: Unidentified -Nymph?

This is a crustacean, as shown by its 4 antennae, and more particularly an isopod. The order generally share flattened bodies with 7 pairs of similar legs, all clearly visible in your picture, without abdominal appendages like in the closely related amphipods. Many different kinds are found from mar...
by actinophrys
Sat Feb 13, 2016 3:08 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Frontonia darkfield video
Replies: 11
Views: 4336

Re: Frontonia darkfield video

Maybe an expert like Bruce or Josh can comment? It's an interesting find! I'm not actually an expert, especially not so for lighting, but since you asked I've tried to add what I can. This colour would not be a pigment whether from food or otherwise, which so far as I know are found in vacuoles, gr...
by actinophrys
Thu Jan 28, 2016 4:34 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Ciliate
Replies: 8
Views: 2986

Re: Ciliate

This is actually a sort of intermediate between those suggestions. Epistylis are among the peritrichs that form branching colonies like this, but they do not have the contractile filaments seen in the stalks. Their presence puts this closer to others like Vorticella and Pseudovorticella , which howe...
by actinophrys
Tue Jan 19, 2016 6:04 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: A bit Daphnia
Replies: 14
Views: 5200

Re: A bit Daphnia

Hi Rod, These are some nice photos and video, but just for the record are not truly Daphnia . Instead, this is the closely related water flea Simocephalus , which have a steep vertical forehead and lack a tail spine. They also generally have the carapace marked by horizontal lines instead of a grid,...
by actinophrys
Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:28 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: mud thing
Replies: 2
Views: 2657

Re: mud thing

Well, calling it mite-like with mite-like legs makes it sound a lot like a mite. ;) I imagine the reason you're supposing otherwise it the number of limbs, but while the adults have eight legs, mite larvae actually do have only six. If there is more reason, there are also six limbs in the nauplius l...
by actinophrys
Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:15 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Achnanthes
Replies: 7
Views: 2812

Re: Achnanthes

Très bien! Mais Achnanthes sont différents en form, et normalement attaché par les tiges. Ces petit dômes ressemblent plus Cocconeis.
by actinophrys
Fri Dec 25, 2015 6:18 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Gastrotrich + ?
Replies: 13
Views: 3440

Re: Gastrotrich + ?

Larger marine flatworms do move by waving, but the smaller ones move with uniform cilia, in contrast to other worms like oligochaetes and nematodes. Here the partial division into zooids, little sensory pits behind the front with no eyespots, and shape of the pharynx look typical of Stenostomum . Wh...
by actinophrys
Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:20 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Rotifer Euchlanis -**Correction Lepadella**
Replies: 10
Views: 4194

Re: Rotifer Euchlanis

This is a nice detailed video. It isn't actually a Euchlanis , though, but rather a Lepadella . They have been mislabeled enough times on-line that it's easy to be misled, an unfortunately self-perpetuating problem, but are fairly easy to tell apart once you know the difference: In Lepadella the foo...
by actinophrys
Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:56 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Possibly Caenomorpha and Brachonella ciliates - ID please
Replies: 10
Views: 4238

Re: Possibly Caenomorpha and Saprodinium ciliates - ID please

Caenomorpha seems right to me, but not Saprodinium , which are flat with posterior spines and no long row of membranelles. Instead what you have looks like Brachonella , a type of metopid. Besides the general form with membranelles winding around the whole length, and full rows of cilia as in the s...
by actinophrys
Fri Oct 23, 2015 5:02 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Culturing a food chain
Replies: 206
Views: 71802

Re: Culturing a food chain

That's a pretty small limit! Guppies for instance are small, friendly, and easy to keep (and breed) though they do prefer some aquarium salt, but even there the females can grow to 2½" long. A few characins do match your size, including cardinal tetras, neon tetras, and dwarf pencilfish; and among b...
by actinophrys
Fri Oct 23, 2015 3:52 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: ID Help
Replies: 7
Views: 2594

Re: ID Help

This is definitely a litostome ciliate, among which this general shape and having one posterior water expulsion vesicle are very common. Loxophyllum belongs to this group, but usually have a series of extrusome warts I think would be visible here; they are lacking in close relatives like Litonotus o...
by actinophrys
Fri Oct 23, 2015 3:28 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Culturing a food chain
Replies: 206
Views: 71802

Re: Culturing a food chain

Most fish will eat any tiny fry, although there are exceptions like strict herbivores or types that look after their young. What you see in pet stores, though, generally are only juveniles and can be expected to get at least 2-3 times larger. There are lots of community fish where they do get along ...
by actinophrys
Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:23 pm
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Culturing a food chain
Replies: 206
Views: 71802

Re: Culturing a food chain

I'd like to offer my thoughts as someone who keeps a freshwater aquarium, which does have fish that eat different things though I do have to add flakes and pellets. I think it should be possible to keep some small fish in a self-contained aquarium if it is large enough and well-lit, but it would be ...
by actinophrys
Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:16 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Unidentified object(s)
Replies: 8
Views: 4417

Re: Unidentified object(s)

Thanks for posting this again! It is a very neat find, shown in excellent detail, and I'm happy to say that with this second pass I could figure something out. As Bill Porter had supposed this is from an oomycete or water mould, which have biflagellate spores. They are usually released from sporangi...