Search found 194 matches
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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 ...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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 ...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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,...
- 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...
- 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.
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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...