Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

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Wes
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Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 12:58 pm

Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#1 Post by Wes » Tue May 17, 2022 8:42 pm

Coleps is a genus of predatory ciliates that feed on bacteria, algae, other protists (dead and alive) as well as animal and plant tissues. Here you can see one Coleps specimen feeding on what I believe is a rotifer egg. If you look closely you can follow the path of egg particles making their way to a digestive vacuole inside the Coleps. Interestingly around the 0:15 mark you can also see the calcium carbonate scales that form Coleps' armour.



Technical details:
Differential interference contrast with a 25x/0,65 Planapo objective, 2x Optovar magnification on a Zeiss Phomi III microscope. Camera is Canon 50D configured for afocal projection with 40 mm pancake lens coupled to a 10x/18 Kpl-W eyepiece.
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
Youtube channel

Javier
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Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#2 Post by Javier » Tue May 17, 2022 9:44 pm

Nice catch and wonderful video, Wes!

The detail of the armour is great. I also liked a lot the big Paramecium. Why is it so shiny? Did you use also polarized illumination?

Greg Howald
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Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:44 am

Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#3 Post by Greg Howald » Tue May 17, 2022 11:15 pm

Wow Wes. You did a good job with that.

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Wes
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Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#4 Post by Wes » Wed May 18, 2022 6:23 am

Thank you Javier and Greg.
Javier wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 9:44 pm
Nice catch and wonderful video, Wes!

The detail of the armour is great. I also liked a lot the big Paramecium. Why is it so shiny? Did you use also polarized illumination?
I use DIC which relies on polarized light.
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
Youtube channel

tlansing
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Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:15 pm

Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#5 Post by tlansing » Wed May 18, 2022 9:33 am

Nice video, Wes. Also appreciate the technical details you included.

Adam Long
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Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2020 11:37 am

Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#6 Post by Adam Long » Wed May 18, 2022 12:37 pm

Great stuff Wes. The 25x Planapo is my favourite objective - do you have the dedicated DIC slider or are you using a different one?

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Wes
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Re: Coleps feasting on a rotifer egg

#7 Post by Wes » Wed May 18, 2022 4:43 pm

Thank you Tim and Adam
Adam Long wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 12:37 pm
Great stuff Wes. The 25x Planapo is my favourite objective - do you have the dedicated DIC slider or are you using a different one?
I also like it a lot, it provides a great compromise between magnification, resolution and spherical aberration. I use the slider for the 6,3x plan-achromat which works but not perfectly as you can see from the background gradient.
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
Youtube channel

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