The hungry worm

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tlansing
Posts: 336
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:15 pm

The hungry worm

#1 Post by tlansing » Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:38 pm

This is a video of a small annelid actively feeding in a sample I collected. I don't know what the name of this worm is, but I am guessing it is some kind of oligochaete (if you have ideas on what this is, I would appreciate your comments). It was fascinating to watch the worm extend some kind of organ to grasp clumps of debris (food) and bring it into the worm's body for digestion. This worm is also selective in what it eats. At a couple of different points in the video, the worm ejects a pine tree pollen grain it has ingested and even uses its spines on the body to move the offending grain away. This video was taken using a Canon 1300D camera with an Amscope adapter on a Zeiss Photomicroscope III. The objective was a 16x Neofluar, optovar set at 1.25x, DIC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2bbSbPSwQU

Javier
Posts: 806
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 11:19 am
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Re: The hungry worm

#2 Post by Javier » Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:00 pm

Nicely done!

You got some very detailed scenes. I cannot help with the ID of this little guy...

tlansing
Posts: 336
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 3:15 pm

Re: The hungry worm

#3 Post by tlansing » Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:17 pm

Thanks, Javier! It was very impressive to see how this worm was able to grab a clump of food and shove it in its mouth

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