Not Sure What This Is

[Ectral]

This thing was in some water that had been soaking with moss and dirt for a few hours. I was trying to find a tardigrade; no luck so far. Does anyone know what it could be? Looks like a red eye with tentacles. The video changes to a higher objective about a minute in.

[Oliver]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
It looks like a "test" of a testate amoeba. Tests are the shells. As a matter of fact, it is not only the empty shell, but you can also see the pseudopods extending from it, so it is alive. The pseudopods are the clear jelly-like extensions from the test.

Here are some forum posts with pictures of other users for comparison:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1975&p=15381&hilit=testate#p15381

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1134&p=7904&hilit=testate#p7904

Oliver

[Ectral]

Thank you! It definitely looks like one of those. Some of the pictures people have online where you can see the "scales" on the amoeba are great. I'll see if I can find any more and get a better quality video.

[Seamer]

Hi Ectral. This is an amoeba that produces a test or shell in which it lives. It is called Arcella. The drawing I have attached is not necessarily this species but one very similar. Hope this has been of help.