Crushed to death by air bubble

[micro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_lt9mA6IBM&t
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What is this thing?

[KD Arvidsson]

Dramatic movie but nice quality. I think it's a flat worm Planaria?, I had one a while ago that was green. then asked experts here at the forum who helped me to identify species. I have it on film on my youtube channel if you want to take a look. //KD
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjsgbq ... dyl2x0Atpw

[micro]

Hm your video is very similar. I don't think they are the same creature though but I really have no idea.

[Bruce Taylor]

Nice video. This is a rather squashed dileptid ciliate (Dileptus, Rimaleptus, Monilicaryon, etc.) The cytostome (cell mouth) at the base of the proboscis is briefly visible, early in the video. The cell is somewhat deformed, probably by coverslip pressure. Before the water under the coverslip evaporated, it would have been much more slender.

Darkfield is pretty, but not very good for showing ciliate organelles, so I can't suggest an identification below family level.

[micro]

Nice video. This is a rather squashed dileptid ciliate (Dileptus, Rimaleptus, Monilicaryon, etc.) The cytostome (cell mouth) at the base of the proboscis is briefly visible, early in the video. The cell is somewhat deformed, probably by coverslip pressure. Before the water under the coverslip evaporated, it would have been much more slender.

Darkfield is pretty, but not very good for showing ciliate organelles, so I can't suggest an identification below family level.

Here is another video of this same dileptid. There are some brightfield shots at 4:50 5:09 and such. I didn't do a good job adjusting the camera settings for brightfield but these shots might be good enough. This was living in one of my ecospheres so I'll probably have footage of more soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61DNLSbNC0

[Bruce Taylor]

We seem to see a 2-part macronucleus, though it's hard to be sure. If so, it is in the family Dimacrocaryonidae, and would be either Rimaleptus or Dimacrocaryon (we'd have to see the oral structures more clearly...I imagine I'm seeing an area of refractive matter around the mouth, which would suggest Dimacrocaryon, but that's very uncertain). The structures I'm seeing as macronuclear nodules might be dense lumps of food, in which case, this critter would have a scattered macronucleus...which would make it a Dileptus. Observing others from the same population might help, if you want to ID to genus.