What is this thing?
What is this thing?
I found this in a sample of one of my fresshwater aquarium... does anybody know what is it?
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Re: What is this thing?
probably a water mite or if i see festoons in the second picture maybe a lost hard bodied tick but thats more about me having ticks on the mind. you need to catch it and look at more closely!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: What is this thing?
I have no idea how to catch it. It is really small, I can't see it with my eyes...the photo was taken with 250x. I was trying to identify it before ask here, so don't have the sample anymore. I will extract some algae more from de aquarium, maybe I can found more specimen like this to look more closely. Thanks for your answer
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Re: What is this thing?
It does very much look like a tick.
Greg
Greg
Re: What is this thing?
It seems to be, but is too small I think... and it was underwater all the time... I taked an small part of java moss at around 25cms underwater, to see what could I see living there when I found it.
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Re: What is this thing?
Mmm yes. Very small for a tick, but there are plenty of water mites that would fit the picture. There are some keys around I think if you can get a closer look. There is hardly ever just one mite after all.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: What is this thing?
Looks like festoons to me and as I understand it, ticks can live an amazingly long time underwater. Some aspects of it don't quite match what I expect of a tick though, not that I'm all that knowledgeable about ticks.BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:45 pmprobably a water mite or if i see festoons in the second picture maybe a lost hard bodied tick but thats more about me having ticks on the mind. you need to catch it and look at more closely!
Jopsep,
Any chance you can get some images, especially of the ventral surface, the back of it to see the "festoons" (if they are indeed festoons), and the head?
Re: What is this thing?
Maybe. I will collect some more sample from the aquarium and I will take a look.dtsh wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:05 pmLooks like festoons to me and as I understand it, ticks can live an amazingly long time underwater. Some aspects of it don't quite match what I expect of a tick though, not that I'm all that knowledgeable about ticks.BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:45 pmprobably a water mite or if i see festoons in the second picture maybe a lost hard bodied tick but thats more about me having ticks on the mind. you need to catch it and look at more closely!
Jopsep,
Any chance you can get some images, especially of the ventral surface, the back of it to see the "festoons" (if they are indeed festoons), and the head?
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Re: What is this thing?
Its not a tick, but a aquatic oribatid mite that live in water. They are not freely swimming and so soft as true water mites but have a very hard shell. For an identification to species-level it is necessary to have a closer look to it.
Leitz Ortholux II
Re: What is this thing?
Last night I found this one in another sample of the same aquarium. I am not sure it is the same species, but should be. Maybe this is an adult, or different sex, or isn't really the same... Sorry for the pictures quality, the depth of field is very short... I need to find an easy way to make a focus stacking with the mocroscope.
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A closer view of the back.
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The head and part of the back.
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Closer views of the head
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A closer view of the back.
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The head and part of the back.
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Closer views of the head
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Re: What is this thing?
Your much clearer image would indicate that this is not a tick. It has far more additional hardware attached to it than that of any typical tick.
Greg
Greg
Re: What is this thing?
I agree with Mr Howald, given more context and something for scale it's likely a mite of some sort.