Where do you find Stentors?

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Jimbo
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Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Where do you find Stentors?

#1 Post by Jimbo » Sun May 02, 2021 3:15 pm

My favorite protist (currently!) is Stentor Coeruleus. While our derelict koi pond has been a wonderful source for little critters, it hasn’t yielded any Stentors. I’m going to get over to the local public pond soon and want to know what conditions to look for. Do they prefer the sunny or shady part of the pond? How about plants? Should I look for duckweed type plants, or algal “mats”?
I think this is one of the more exciting parts of this hobby . Pick a goal and work toward it. I’m sure that when I do find a Stentor I will move on to some other little critter that I haven’t seen yet!
Thanks, Jim.

D0c
Posts: 267
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:13 pm
Location: England

Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#2 Post by D0c » Sun May 02, 2021 4:17 pm

Since beginning this hobby four months ago I have found four species of stentor and they have all been found on dead leaves lying in the detritus at the bottom of ponds. I haven't found any correlation between sunny and shaded areas

Check out my stentor videos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/154534235 ... 7868672731

Hope you find some soon.
Leitz SM-Lux

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#3 Post by Jimbo » Sun May 02, 2021 8:42 pm

DOc, thanks for the advice. It sounds like I could just pipette the biofilm on a leaf. I can even try it in the koi pond. Very nice videos btw. I really liked one that showed that showed Stentor free swimming with a barrel shaped body. Thanks, Jim.

Crusty
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Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2017 4:19 pm

Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#4 Post by Crusty » Fri May 14, 2021 4:06 pm

I'm not sure if this is helpful, at least at the moment. The lake I from which dip supports a huge population of stentors in the winter, not so much at other times. It may be (and this is just a guess) they come closer to the shore where the water is warmer and go back to the center of the pond when all the water warms up.

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#5 Post by Jimbo » Fri May 14, 2021 5:27 pm

Thanks Crusty.
That’s a possibility. If I don’t find a Stentor by late fall, I could wait until just before the pond freezes and grab some samples then. Hopefully I won’t have to wait that long.
Jim.

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micro
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Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#6 Post by micro » Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:31 am

I found hundreds of them once. They were on these green plants. Don't know what the plants are called but they are those little green circular things. Some stentors are big enough to see without a microscope so you can gather pond water poor it in a dish and look for them that way.
Image

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: Where do you find Stentors?

#7 Post by Jimbo » Sat Jun 05, 2021 9:01 pm

Micro,
Thanks for the tip. I wonder if that is duckweed, at least I know what that looks like. Time for a trip to the pond!
I just found your channel on u-tube and you have a new subscriber, please keep the videos coming!
Jim.

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