The peritrich Scyphidia

[tlansing]

I collect often from a small pond that has an abundance of an interesting peritrich, Scyphidia. It took me a while to figure out who Scyphidia was and have been delighted to find it repeatedly. This peritrich has a very short, non-contractile stalk and a deep buccal cavity, as shown in the first two pictures.

Scyphidia-1.jpg (92.14 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

Scyphidia-2.jpg (67.11 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

The body of the cell (zooid) contracts strongly when irritated and pulls in the cilia around the apical end, as shown in the first video. The formation of food vacuoles can also been seen in this video. Scyphidia is found as individuals attached to stalks of algae or other substrates and very often attached to other organisms. I observed a group of Scyphidia individuals attached to the head of an insect larva (I think a caddis fly larva). This is shown in the second video. The Scyphidia cling tenaciously to the head of this larva as shown by the ability of the Scyphidia not to be scraped off as the larva retreats into its rather close fitting tube home.

[WWWW]

Nice info and beautiful pictures/video !

[Dennis]

tlansing,
Good stuff.
I learned a new creature. Good focus work.

[DonSchaeffer]

Wonderful video!

[macnmotion]

Beautiful work

[Wes]

Nice! Did you modify your photographic adaptation?

[tlansing]

Hello All: Thanks very much for your kind comments on the pictures and video.

@Wes: Yes, I did modify my photo setup based on the information you provided in a different post, so thanks again for the info. I lucked out and immediately found the “Aufsetzring” (attachment ring) 47 60 05-1005 on eBay for a reasonable price (along with a beam splitter/eyepiece and simple 35mm camera body). Like you, I am using a Kpl 10X/18 lens as the photo lens. I do not use the pancake lens that you mentioned you use (I don't have one) but I don't think/know if that makes a difference; the image quality I get is pretty darn good. I like the setup a lot. Any information on the use of the pancake lens would be appreciated.

Tim

[Wes]

Hi Tim,

I could tell your image looks much nicer now, no chromatic aberrations and such. I guess you use part 47 30 29 which is essentially a 63 mm objective that converts the virtual image from the 10x/18 Kpl-W eyepiece into a real image that is compatible with the flat sensor of your camera. If thats the case then you don't need the pancake lens (I use it because I don't have part 47 30 29). Looking forward to seeing more photos and videos with your new setup

Best regards,
Ves

[ImperatorRex]

Hi tlansing,
nice! Thanks for sharing