Four unknown creatures

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ddy5
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 12:37 pm
Location: Maryland, USA

Four unknown creatures

#1 Post by ddy5 » Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:36 pm

These are some creatures that have showed up in pond samples. I don’t have IDs for any of them, and they all have some odd feature(s). I’m hoping someone can help with IDs and any other information about them.

Thanks! David


1: This one looks like it has square vacuoles. They actually look like the crystals you see in some amoeba.
Square vacuole ciliate.jpg
Square vacuole ciliate.jpg (159.14 KiB) Viewed 669 times
2: This strange thing appears to be a ciliate with a proboscis, not much cytoplasm, and tendrils inside it. It was moving around in what seemed like a normal way - quickly, in fact, so that’s the best image I got.
Hollow ciliate.jpg
Hollow ciliate.jpg (112.59 KiB) Viewed 669 times
3: This appears to be an amoeba (?), but it’s a shape and behavior I’ve never encountered. The cytoplasm was streaming inside the filaments. There are also thin filaments extending far outside the picture frame.
Stringy amoeba.jpg
Stringy amoeba.jpg (74.54 KiB) Viewed 669 times
4: This tiny creature was darting around very quickly. They are not rare, but also not obvious. What are the three appendages sticking out from the end?
Tiny gremlin.jpg
Tiny gremlin.jpg (55.92 KiB) Viewed 669 times

Bruce Taylor
Posts: 986
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 11:34 am

Re: Four unknown creatures

#2 Post by Bruce Taylor » Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:39 am

Very nice images!

The first ciliate does not have square vacuoles, but has eaten some square algae (diatoms I think). It has trichocysts , and is a very enthusiastic algae-eater, and appears to have an oral (cytopharyngeal) basket. If so, it is likely a nassophorean of some kind. Perhaps a slightly damaged Furgasonia? However, the oral basket (if it really is one!) is not clearly visible. Do you have other images?

The second one is the ciliate Trachelius ovum

I can't help with the amoeboid.

The final critter is Mesodinium,and the appendages at the anterior are "oral tentacles"...feeding structures, evidently, used in capturing prey.

ddy5
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 12:37 pm
Location: Maryland, USA

Re: Four unknown creatures

#3 Post by ddy5 » Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:48 am

Thanks, Bruce! Very helpful, as always.

(The first one does have an oral basket.)

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