MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Found this bad boy wandering around a slide. Been having trouble tracking down an ID for it ("freshwater worm" yields a lot of fishing lure results ). It's probably 3mm long or so.

Not sure what a time zone is to a worm - but that one seems to span a couple of them.

PeteM wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:16 am

Not sure what a time zone is to a worm - but that one seems to span a couple of them.

The only thing longer is the "woooooaaaaah" I exclaimed when it barreled into my FOV!

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Rather than one long worm what you seem to have is a family! I counted 8 buds. I believe it is known as paratonic fission.
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So this is as said a string of zoids, which will ultimately separate. It is not actually a segmented worm but a flatworm, where there are several types that typically occur in chains of two or more. In particular this looks like Catenula, since the front of each zoid is marked off by a ciliated collar and contains a statolith – a small round body used in sensing orientation.

75RR wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 29, 2021 5:21 am

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Rather than one long worm what you seem to have is a family! I counted 8 buds. I believe it is known as paratonic fission.
.

actinophrys wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 29, 2021 10:33 pm

So this is as said a string of zoids, which will ultimately separate. It is not actually a segmented worm but a flatworm, where there are several types that typically occur in chains of two or more. In particular this looks like Catenula, since the front of each zoid is marked off by a ciliated collar and contains a statolith – a small round body used in sensing orientation.

Hell yes! Thank you guys - that is super interesting and looks like the ID is spot on.

I got some more footage of this guy which ended kinda sadly. It just slowed down, stopped, and disintegrated over several hours. At one point, I actually did expect the segments to split off - and they kinda did - but they died soon after. Not sure what happened - maybe it was a pH/osmotic issue on the slide.

Anyway, it made for some interesting footage so I'll be making a video on it (and now I've got more info, which is nice!)

josmann wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 30, 2021 7:12 pm

I got some more footage of this guy which ended kinda sadly. It just slowed down, stopped, and disintegrated over several hours. At one point, I actually did expect the segments to split off - and they kinda did - but they died soon after. Not sure what happened - maybe it was a pH/osmotic issue on the slide.

Remember that one can add water to a slide by placing a drop on the edge of the cover slip - capillary action does the rest.

75RR wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 31, 2021 8:11 am

josmann wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 30, 2021 7:12 pm

I got some more footage of this guy which ended kinda sadly. It just slowed down, stopped, and disintegrated over several hours. At one point, I actually did expect the segments to split off - and they kinda did - but they died soon after. Not sure what happened - maybe it was a pH/osmotic issue on the slide.

Remember that one can add water to a slide by placing a drop on the edge of the cover slip - capillary action does the rest.

Yeah I was doing that the whole time but I was using water from the specimen jar which leaves hard water stains (or could be salt - not sure, this creek does connect to the SF Bay) when it dries so I'm wondering if maybe I was slowly raising the pH over the several days I kept it and was tending to it.

The paramecia and rotifers seemed fine, though. My only other guess is I irradiated it too harshly? It's LED light so I wouldn't expect anything too traumatic...

josmann wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:59 pm

Yeah I was doing that the whole time but I was using water from the specimen jar which leaves hard water stains (or could be salt - not sure, this creek does connect to the SF Bay) when it dries so I'm wondering if maybe I was slowly raising the pH over the several days I kept it and was tending to it.

The paramecia and rotifers seemed fine, though. My only other guess is I irradiated it too harshly? It's LED light so I wouldn't expect anything too traumatic...

If you managed several days you were doing pretty well. Was it a well slide? If the water was brackish then I would expect a salt buildup over several days.

As to the irradiation, certainly been bombarded by light levels way above the normal range present in their habitat has to have an effect.

(Might be worth asking about this in the new Morphology and Behavior section)

It is one of a genus of microturbelarian