Found a thing

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MicroPunter
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Found a thing

#1 Post by MicroPunter » Thu Nov 30, 2023 9:33 pm

I took a sample of soil from a new pot plant, I was looking for nematodes under the stereo microscope, didn’t find any but I did spot this. I have no idea what it is, if I didn’t know that ciliates reproduce by mitosis I would swear this is some kind of egg sack producing a bunch of ciliates, although they may be a bit big, this was recorded under between 30x and 40x magnification. I was using my Brunel Microscopes BMDZ.

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DonSchaeffer
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Re: Found a thing

#2 Post by DonSchaeffer » Fri Dec 01, 2023 8:15 pm

Looks like some kind of colony.
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hkv
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Re: Found a thing

#3 Post by hkv » Sun Dec 03, 2023 11:49 pm

Looks like ciliates feeding on something they found.
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MicroPunter
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Re: Found a thing

#4 Post by MicroPunter » Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:21 pm

Thank you, both answers makes sense.
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Bruce Taylor
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Re: Found a thing

#5 Post by Bruce Taylor » Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:23 pm

Yes, a ciliate feeding frenzy. :) The usual suspect in a scene of this kind would be a histophagous (tissue-eating) Tetrahymena.
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MicroPunter
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Re: Found a thing

#6 Post by MicroPunter » Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:43 pm

Bruce Taylor wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:23 pm
 Yes, a ciliate feeding frenzy. :) The usual suspect in a scene of this kind would be a histophagous (tissue-eating) Tetrahymena.
Just googled them, yes they look very similar. Thank you for the ID. It makes far more sense that a colony of these Tetrahymena should form around a food source than my initial idea of some kind of ciliate egg sack, which I knew was impossible.
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Bruce Taylor
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Re: Found a thing

#7 Post by Bruce Taylor » Mon Dec 04, 2023 6:14 pm

There are ciliates that form reproductive cysts, which are a little like egg sacks. :)
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DonSchaeffer
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Re: Found a thing

#8 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Dec 04, 2023 7:40 pm

What was the magnification? Stereo microscopes aren't that powerful.
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MicroPunter
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Re: Found a thing

#9 Post by MicroPunter » Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:09 pm

DonSchaeffer wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 04, 2023 7:40 pm
 What was the magnification? Stereo microscopes aren't that powerful.
I have a zoom stereo microscope, the magnification was somewhere between the 3 and 4. I guess approaching 40x equivalent to compound microscope. I was just using the stereo microscope to do a quick scan of the soil in a Petri dish to see if there was anything interesting; there was. I should have taken a pipette and transferred it a slide to look more closely on the compound scope but I just didn’t have the heart to disturb them, they looked like they were having fun.
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MicroPunter
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Re: Found a thing

#10 Post by MicroPunter » Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:11 pm

Bruce Taylor wrote: ↑
Mon Dec 04, 2023 6:14 pm
 There are ciliates that form reproductive cysts, which are a little like egg sacks. :)
I will have to read up more on this, it’s all so fascinating, there’s always so much more to learn.
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