Marine Foraminifera on the move

[macnmotion]

I've been hoping to see this for a long time. This marine Foraminifera (from the Gulf of Thailand) pulls itself through its environment using its reticulopodia (filamentous cytoplasm).

[Javier]

Nicely done, great detail.

Thanks for sharing.

[MichaelG.]

Captivating

MichaelG.

[Free2Fish]

Wonderful! Those reticulopodia in the early frames look really long. Do they extend them, latch onto something and then pull themselves along?

Harry

[Sure Squintsalot]

Cool video.

Does your rig not support darkfield?

[macnmotion]

Cool video.

Does your rig not support darkfield?

Darkfield only at 10x. I could have seen it in phase, but was already using oil at 40x when I found this.

[macnmotion]

Wonderful! Those reticulopodia in the early frames look really long. Do they extend them, latch onto something and then pull themselves along?

Harry

The reticulopidia can be used for both feeding and locomotion. You're exactly right in your description. Between the 2 scenes in my video the Foraminifera didn't move for several minutes, while it's cytoplasm stretched across the environment. Once it latched onto another piece of detritus it began pulling itself towards it.

I've seen reticulopidia used for feeding several times. Here are a couple of examples:

[charlie g]

Thanks for sharing this microscopy, macnmotion. Terrific to see this behavior. That first foram at 40X-oil was a quite tiny organism ( as far as forams are discussed)..wonderful post, thank you. charlie g

[macnmotion]

Thanks for sharing this microscopy, macnmotion. Terrific to see this behavior. That first foram at 40X-oil was a quite tiny organism ( as far as forams are discussed)..wonderful post, thank you. charlie g

Thanks Charlie. I make it a habit now to scan through slides with my 40x when I have the time -- I often find things that I never would have seen at 10x, and possibly not at 20x.

[macnmotion]

Cool video.

Does your rig not support darkfield?

I saw another one, so I shot it with a Rheinberg filter widefield.

[Sure Squintsalot]

There we go..... now THAT looks nice!