A Walking Ciliate

[DonSchaeffer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA8I16R7hE0
I saw a lot of these spirotrichs today.
They essentially monopolized my viewing,
except for the big worm, the vorticella
and the speedy little ciliates that remain
completely still until they vanish faster
than you can blink. The spirotrichs caught
my eye because they would rather walk than swim.

[Bruce Taylor]

Nice clear footage! These are Euplotes.

[DonSchaeffer]

Thanks Bruce.

[Rossf]

Nice footage DonSchaeffer -when I first observed these myself I found them confusing because they have the ciliate mouth but they seem almost like micro crustaceans they way they move-amazing how specialised these critters can get-ie far less cilia but using the few they have as legs-just curious do you prefer to shoot in black and white?-just as valid a choice as colour of course-
Regards Ross

[DonSchaeffer]

The funny thing is, I am shooting in color. I use the 60x objective most of the time. It doesn't seem to pick up much color.

[Rossf]

I’ve noticed with my camera a simple tungsten incandescent bulb always makes for more colourful footage-even halogen seems to bring out less colour-maybe objective coatings took into account the illumination to be used..

[DonSchaeffer]

I thought it was because the images are close to the limit of wavelengths of light. surely that is nonsense.

[DonSchaeffer]

I had one of those 100X 200X 300X microscopes where the 300X was essentially useless. But I had some good friends to explore with. We used broken glass shards as slides.

The funny thng bout those spirotrichs is that they are thick. At 600x you can focus back and forth and them. On one side they look you can't see the cilia but you can see the internal organelles. You have focus deeper to see the cilia. What spooky creatures.

[DonSchaeffer]

I've only been playing with microscopes for about a year. I have am\n Amscope 500 series and use it entirely with an eyepiece camera. I can't talk about anything else. It's all I know. I have made some enhancements using top stage light, a led light that can be moved back and forth under the stage, and a little light conducting cable in the filter holder. I am happy with my results most of the time. I am sure better equipment would get better results, but I am where I am.