Pregnant Tardigrade?

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MikeBradley
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Pregnant Tardigrade?

#1 Post by MikeBradley » Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:27 am

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I seem to have captured a heavily pregnant tardigrade. The 5 eggs in the ovary are filling the internal space rather completely! The specimen came from a sample taken in sunken leaf litter at the edge of a pond in coastal BC, under ice for the last week or so.

The image was taken with a 20x objective on a Canon DSLR in AFocal mode on my BH2.

Michael
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75RR
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#2 Post by 75RR » Sun Mar 03, 2019 1:03 pm

Pregnant Tardigrade?
Think you may be right. Amazing sight!

Image is from: https://sites.google.com/site/tardigrad ... production
Image
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apochronaut
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#3 Post by apochronaut » Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:20 pm

Some company should make egg cartons shaped like tartigrades. Then there would be A grade, C grade and ....

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actinophrys
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#4 Post by actinophrys » Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:04 pm

Neat find. As 75RR's link says, many tardigrades lay their eggs inside a moult; that's what you have here. The little stub appendages confirm it came from a tardigrade, but the reason the interior is so empty is that the mother is not here. There are only the five new ones she has left behind.

MikeBradley
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#5 Post by MikeBradley » Sat Mar 09, 2019 5:37 pm

I think the Tardigrades are after me! I found what I think is another egg mass yesterday in a sample from the same pond as the earlier one. This time there is no sign of a moult and there are at least a dozen eggs.

The image was taken with a 20x objective on a Canon DSLR in AFocal mode on my BH2. The egg mass is roughly 350um in length. It is a stack of 35 images

Michael
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Mintaka
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#6 Post by Mintaka » Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:18 pm

Very nice find. Are you going to keep the eggs until the cubs hatch?

MikeBradley
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#7 Post by MikeBradley » Mon Mar 11, 2019 7:34 pm

I hope so! I returned it to my mini-aquarium and I'm letting nature take its course.
Michael
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Re: Pregnant Tardigrade?

#8 Post by shawn perez » Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:43 am

MikeBradley wrote:
Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:27 am
Micro_4129a1000.jpgI seem to have captured a heavily pregnant tardigrade. The 5 eggs in the ovary are filling the internal space rather completely! The specimen came from a sample taken in sunken leaf litter at the edge of a pond in coastal BC, under ice for the last week or so.

The image was taken with a 20x objective on a Canon DSLR in AFocal mode on my BH2.

Michael
Hey Mike, Any updates on this?
Shawn P.

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