Green pearshaped creature with tentacles

[Wes]

I found this organism in a somewhat putrid little pond. At first I thought it was some sort of Difflugia but upon closer examination I believe this is not correct. The appendages ("tentacles") that you see on the lower left side are immobile.

Is it some sort of an algal reproductive structure?

[apochronaut]

Harvey Weinstein has escaped!

[PeteM]

Great image, whatever it is.

[Expansion]

Interesting, are those appendages not pseudopodia?

[Wes]

Thanks everyone for the comments, I found a bunch of these and I've never seen them before.

Interesting, are those appendages not pseudopodia?

They are appendages, I think they are some sort of rhizoids or have a function similar to hyphae in fungi like growth tips.

[Phill Brown]

Is it 630x?
I'd be happy with the image quality.
As with dinosaurs, how did they know what they where all called?.
Could just call it George for the moment.

[tlansing]

Hi Wes,
I have seen this many times myself. I think this is an early stage in the growth of zoospore of Oedogonium. The tentacle structure is the holdfast that the alga uses to attach to the substrate. With floating coverglasses, I have seen nice images of the holdfast attached to the slide, as shown in the photo below. This view is looking down on the holdfast as it is attached to the coverglass.

Oedogonium zoospore holdfast.JPG (46.27 KiB) Viewed 2949 times

[Wes]

Is it 630x?

Hi Phill, its a crop from an image taken with a 40x objective and a 10x eyepiece.

Hi Wes,
I have seen this many times myself. I think this is an early stage in the growth of zoospore of Oedogonium. The tentacle structure is the holdfast that the alga uses to attach to the substrate. With floating coverglasses, I have seen nice images of the holdfast attached to the slide, as shown in the photo below. This view is looking down on the holdfast as it is attached to the coverglass.

Thank you, Tim! You never stop learning new stuff with the microscope.

[Expansion]

What camera do you use?

[Wes]

What camera do you use?

I use an old Canon 50D

[Expansion]

What camera do you use?

I use an old Canon 50D

Thanks! The image produced is very nice

[Wes]

Hi Wes,
I have seen this many times myself. I think this is an early stage in the growth of zoospore of Oedogonium. The tentacle structure is the holdfast that the alga uses to attach to the substrate. With floating coverglasses, I have seen nice images of the holdfast attached to the slide, as shown in the photo below. This view is looking down on the holdfast as it is attached to the coverglass.

Hi Tim,
I have now observed, on many occasions, structures similar to the holdfast you show alon with strands of what in my opinion clearly resembles the Oedigonium images I have seen in the web.