MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

50x46 µm, found it in a pond water culture. The structure on the left is its nucleus I think but I have no clue what the other 5 round things are (some kind of parasites maybe?)

I would guess it is food being digested via phagocytosis.

MNMyco

I see three possibilities: food, gametes, parasites. The 5 objects look nothing like the food vacuoles in any of the protists I've seen in this sample, usually they have a thin membrane and are filled with either yeast, algae or bacteria. The structures here are a bit more intricate, there is an outer layer of higher optical density and a lower density core in addition to a number of smaller vesicles and granules. It may be some sort of reproductive structure, but I'd expect the nucleus (the different structure on the left at 10 o'clock) to have itself morphed into such an entity (although what do I know about protist sex life). And this leaves me with a parasite but I really have no way to justify this, I simply can't explain what else it could be and thats not a solid argument. Very mysterious object

Wondered if Positive/Negative Bias might have a bearing on the ID

I regret not taking a phase contrast image, that might have been nice.

Wes wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:27 am

I see three possibilities: food, gametes, parasites. . . Very mysterious object

Pop rivets? Those critters may be smarter than we think

Do agree that phase & brightfield to compare might help with an ID.

ID aside, this is a very interesting and attractive image. From your yeast fed culture ?

mintakax wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:27 pm

ID aside, this is a very interesting and attractive image. From your yeast fed culture ?

Yes, its from the yeast fed culture which I am now feeding with corn and amoeba are plentiful. This particular object I saw only once, usually there are many specimens of each species I find but this object was rather unique.