Ostracod Island

[charlie g]

Hi all, please share with puppy and me, a wonderful fall'20 microscopy hike for moss covered stones. Such a moss covered stone now supports duck weed placed on it's surface...the plant assemblage covering the collected stone 'wicks up'/ maintains a water film over the stone. This stone offers wonderful microscopy observations of live wet-mount slides. Please, pretty please consider collecting such a moss covered stone from your outdoor areas...plopping the stone in a pyrex dish...establishing your own wonderful microhabitat.

The greek word: " Ostrakon" means: "shell", and Ostracod 'microcrusteaceans are indeed bivalved shelled meiofauna. Due to their calcitic mineral rich shells, Ostracodes fossilize well, Ostracods as a taxon are the oldest ( yes, the oldest!) known microfauna...that is to say the Ostracod fossil record is the most extensive, and continuous from our dear earths Cambrian period ! For good puppie and I to encounter this tribe of neighbors in our wood-lot is a microscopy world view, yes, yes.

Ostracods :'seed shrimps', tiny meiofauna/ microcrusteaceans thrive in fresh water habitats and marine habitats...and all unique aqueous habitats in this range. Ostracods hatch and progress through eight (8) molt stages to become mature adult Ostracods.

I fancifully termed this bench-culture: "Ostracod Island"...as all my random eyedropper slurp-samples ( most meiofauna are highly reactive organisms..if you do not 'rapid slup' a collection sample..so many different species wil simply dash away and avoid being in your water sample)...all my slup-eyedropper samples contained multiple molt-stages of Ostracods.

Please enjoy puppy and my woodlot collection hike for moss covered stones..please visit with our: "Ostracod Island"

warmly, puppy and charlie guevara, finger lakes/US

[charlie g]

[charlie g]

'Ostracod Island ' supports a vibrant meiofauna community.

[charlie g]

These variety of molt-stages offer insight into just when epibiont peritrich ciliates ellect to attach to OStracods...dependant of the constant driver of our seasons.

[charlie g]

We enjoyed a first light snowfall 11/1/20 here in fingerlakes/US. Before this month..puppie and I collected a second moss covered rock to place in the bench pyrex dish with 'Ostracod Island' moss rock. This first rocks moss has now started to grow off of the rock it was on when collected. With tweezers I soon will lift off a lot of the dense surface algae mat now growing in this dish culture ( err, outdoors from time to time I cutdown the grasses on the meadows).

Of the hatched from egg, ostracod nauplius larva, there will be eight more molts until full adult Ostracod seed-shrimp. Just 'out from under the coverslip' are imaged an adult Ostracod and an initial hatchling ostracod nauplius larvae.

[charlie g]

NormallyI avoid the border areas of wetmount slides with 50/50 mix of sample and methylcellulose viscosity tool..with close working distance higher mag objectives..a mess to clean if your objective touches the border fluids.

[charlie g]

The molted 'husks', or shed shells, or molted carapaces of various ostracod molt stages litter fluid samples of this 'Ostracod Island' dish culture. I'm thinking about collecting a variety of shed carapaces to prepare a permanent slide of the growth stages of this meiofaunan.

Unlike fresh observed outdoor collected ostracods..especially winter season, under ice collected ostracods..so far in three ( 3) wetmount slide samples of ostracods from my stable bench culture...so far I have encountered only one ostracod bearing an epibiont peritrich attached ciliate! Perhaps with easy indoor living ( daily light cycle 9pm to 12noon, water level in dish culture maintained as needed, ambient indoor temp perhaps 67 F in my microscope bench room), perhaps epibiont ciliates have no need to attach on ostracods?

[charlie g]

In addition to ostracod micro-crusteaceans (that is a type of : meiofauna), this stable bench culture offers a variety of other meiofauna inhabitants and protozoa 'new to me'.

[mrsonchus]

Hi Charlie, good to hear from you old friend!

Nice post - PUPPY!

Wonderful source of 'stuff' you have in that wood-lot too.

[Rapidray]

Great posts and photos! And great looking puppy there.

[charlie g]

Hi rapidray and Mrsonchus, my 'microscopy wold views' often an excuse to interupt chores...err I'm supposed to be chunking a tree for fire wood ( tree dropped last spring'19)...but I keep stareing at what is under the bark of the chunks of maple-wood! And there was the microscopy of the near pure culture of algae under the humming bird feeder screw-top, etc., etc..

I encourage all to enjoy outdoor nitches for delightful cultures to maintain indoors at the bench. Thanks rapidray and Mrsonchus for complimenting 3mnth old puppy. charlie guevara

I will continue to observe the variety of meiofauna and protists in my now stable 'Ostracod Island' dish culture, please enjoy this community with me.

[charlie g]

I need to chunk this maple wood before snowfall stays.

[Rapidray]

Sweet! Those mushrooms look inviting...especially the soil...wonder what be living there.

[Crater Eddie]

Sorry for bringing up an old post but I missed this as I have been away from the forum for a while. I love your Pyrex cultures, they seem much handier then my pickle jars. I’m going to have to do some shopping this weekend.
CE

PS: The pup is adorable!

[DonSchaeffer]

Boy your collecting looks like fun. I have to wait until the temperatures get higher and all the snow melts.

[charlie g]

Don...get out there and collect from waters under the ice, from tree base mosses under the snow..bring it indoors to your bench.

Yup, crater eddy, pyrex dishes are low cost, move about your bench easy, plop them over a white paper plate and observe with oblique pen-light in a dim room..excellent hunting! spring soon folks, charlie guevara