Hydra!

[Crater Eddie]

I collected a new sample jar full at a local pond today. Looking at it this evening, I see that it contains several hydra! These are the first hydra I have seen since high school, back in the... uh... back some time ago. (Yes, we did have electric lights back then)
I didn't remember them as being so big! I have been watching them with a hand lens... wish I had a way to photograph them.
CE

[rnabholz]

Eddie

I am jealous! I have yet to see a Hydra. Ya gots to figure out to get us some shots.

Standing by.....

Rod

[75RR]

... wish I had a way to photograph them.

Hope you find a way, would like to see them!

[vasselle]

Bonjour.
Peut être dans une lame incurvée (creuse),vous permettra t'il de les photographier.
En tout cas j'espère que vous réussirez à les photographier et j'attend avec joie vos publication de vos photos.
Bonne continuation et observation.
Cordialement seb

[Crater Eddie]

The sample is in a Starbucks Frappuccino jar. The hydra are quite large, 3/8" to nearly 1/2" long, longer if you include the tentacles.
I took these rather poor shots through the side of the jar with my point-and-shoot camera in Macro mode. Best I can do for now, sorry.
This makes me wish for stereo inspection scope like I have at work. Hmmm... Maybe I can take a sample to work next week...
CE

[Crater Eddie]

It's funny, looking through the photos I took, I see many more hydra than I saw just looking through the hand lens. There must be dozens in there. Maybe I need to go back to that pond and collect another jar full.
CE

[75RR]

Thanks for the photos. :) Send some to gekko - he has a stereoscope

[zzffnn]

CE and 75RR,

You can buy or make a vertical thin wall micro-aquarium like this: http://www.carolina.com/protist-viewing ... ?question=#

Carolina told me their wall thickness is 0.5 mm per wall and internal space thickness is 3 mm thick - their version is about $18 shipped.

I recently made a DIY version with Hobby Lobby acrylic sheets (of 0.8 mm thickness) and 0.6 mm spacers cut from a credit card (then glued together with aquariums-safe silicone glue). My cost is about $12, if you don't count time and gasoline cost.

And you can probably photograph hydra with a 1x compound objective with 5-6x eyepiece (afocally), or simply through a stereo scope. Compound objective would give better image.

[mrsonchus]

Hi Eddie, these really take me back! What a wonderful find - they're still fascinating to me after several decades! The pictures almost make them look ethereal and just beyond reach...
A really nice post, please treat us to some pictures, it'll not take you long to get them sorted - I've seen your quality pictures enough to know that for sure!
A real treat - hydra, still as intriguing as they were the first time I saw one.

[mrsonchus]

CE and 75RR,

You can buy or make a vertical thin wall micro-aquarium like this: http://www.carolina.com/protist-viewing ... ?question=#

Carolina told me their wall thickness is 0.5 mm per wall and internal space thickness is 3 mm thick - their version is about $18 shipped.

I recently made a DIY version with Hobby Lobby acrylic sheets (of 0.8 mm thickness) and 0.6 mm spacers cut from a credit card (then glued together with aquariums-safe silicone glue). My cost is about $12, if you don't count time and gasoline cost.

And you can probably photograph hydra with a 1x compound objective with 5-6x eyepiece (afocally), or simply through a stereo scope. Compound objective would give better image.

Hi zzffnn - these 'micro-aquaria' have caught my eye - I like the look of them! I'm seriously thinking of perhaps buying or making one, something constructed using larger coverslips would be a possibility? A couple of coverslips and some resinous-mountant may well do the trick... I think I may have a go this weekend if I get a moment. Thanks for the ideas.
Actually some double-sided tape would probably do it also....

[gekko]

Very nice given the Frappuccino container. zzffnn's suggestion of a flat glass sheet to take the photo through would give much better results, but any picture is better than none.

[charlie]

That is awesome Crater Eddie. I didn't know hydra grew that large. What part of Illinois are you in? (Illinois is one LONG state north to south; I am wondering what temperatures you are seeing now.)

[Crater Eddie]

Our highs have been in the 50's for the last few days. Right now, at 7:39 am, it's actually up to 64.
We are in the southern third of the state, kind of between St Louis Missouri and Evansville Indiana.
CE

[Crater Eddie]

Send some to gekko - he has a stereoscope

Now there's an idea!

I didn't know that hydra grew that large either. When I first saw them I had to look for a while to make sure that was what I was seeing. Now I'll have to read up on them.
I have read through the recent thread regarding mini and micro aquariums with interest, had no idea that I would soon be in need of one.
Today I'll be transferring the contents of the Frappuccino jar into a larger, hopefully more sustainable, jar... you guessed it, a gallon pickle jar. I'll do my best to keep the hydra and company alive until I can come up with a better way of photographing them.
Thanks for all the ideas.
CE

[KurtM]

Woo-hoo, a most excellent adventure -- everybody needs some pet Hydras! Very fascinating and surreal things that blur the line between plant and animal. They're found in green and brown varieties, looks like you got brown ones there. Keep watching, and you'll soon see how they get around: sometimes by "inch worming", other times by "somersaulting". Watching them bud their offspring is always a trip. Doesn't surprise me that you spot more of them in your photos and expect you'll soon see more yet. Can you tell I'm a Hydra nut?

I swear micro aquariums are seriously easy to make. You can have one or two of your own by suppertime if you just do it, and won't cost $20. (Can't you just hear the band playing and the cheerleaders chirping? Rah! Rah!)

Fan, and others, who use those superteeny Carolina type micro-quariums: how do you transfer Hydras and other wee critters? I admit to having never tried to move Hydra, feeling no need to as yet. But I do occasionally think about putting one in a watch glass and having a look with the inverted scope, or getting some serious closeup images through one of the compounds.

[zzffnn]

For Hydra or ostracod, 3ml plastic pipettes would work. I have caught many small ostracids that way. There are 1.7ml and 1.2ml versions too.

For protists smaller than ostracods, I would try 200 microliter lab micropipette with 200 microliter tips, though at that tiny size you may or may not be able to transfer them at all, even if you can see them well with an inverted objective. You would have much better chance than random sampling though.

[einman]

Very Nice. Did you collect the plants at the same time?

[Crater Eddie]

Yes, the plants and all came from that same pond at the same time.
As a matter is fact, we are getting ready to go back to collect another sample. I wonder how densely one should pack in the plants in a one gallon container for a long term habitat? That original sample looks a little sparse in its new gallon home.
CE

[KurtM]

I try to approximate the density of the habitat it came from, myself, and err on the side of too much. My thinking is that more plants provide more nutrients, oxygen, protection, etc. But I'm no biologist.

[jackemled]

Can you describe what type of pond it was?
Like if there's a lot of detritus material in it or floating on it, what type of materials, if there was silt, mud, or rocks on the bottom.
And how you collected the sample, I've never been able to observe a Hydra before, the closest I can find to one is a Diatom surrounded by several small flagellates & ciliates.

[Crater Eddie]

This was a small pond, maybe an acre or so. I didn't scrape up any mud with this sample, I just uprooted some plants growing near the edge, though of course some mud came with the roots. I think the hydra were most likely attached to the leaves and stems of the plants, not in the mud. I most often find them hanging on to the side of the jar.
CE

[charlie g]

Fantastic encounter you made on your: 'life list' of world views, CE...congrats! Good you have an area open space water impoundment which hosts hydras. This ability of hydras in that standing water speaks about the ponds health.

I think, Kurt, down in Texas way has a mesocosm with thriving hydras? You enjoy this special encounter with a fellow neighbor of our precious 'sweet waters'. If you 'do the math'..or simply 'google' quantity of fresh water (sweet water) on our dear earth...oh so precious is sweet water which is still 'healthy enough' to support hydras. charlie guevara