The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

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tlansing
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The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#1 Post by tlansing » Sat Oct 01, 2022 5:36 pm

This was one of the most interesting observations that I have made in quite a while. When I was examining a sample from a local pond, I noticed what appeared to be a network of fine branches. Upon closer examination, these turned out to be a network of anastomosing pseudopodia of the naked freshwater formaniferan Recticulomyxa. As noted by Ferry Siemensma (https://arcella.nl/reticulomyxa/), “Reticulomyxa filosa is a freshwater amoeboid with fine granular, branching and anastomosing pseudopodia and therefore traditionally placed in the class Granuloreticulosea, as a sister group to the order Foraminiferida. Recent studies have revealed remarkable similarities in pseudopodial motility and ultrastructure between R. filosa and foraminifera (e.g. Allogromia laticollaris) and clearly show that R. filosa branches within the clade of foraminifera, suggesting that R. filosa is in fact a naked freshwater foraminiferan. (Pawlowski et al, J. Eukaryot. Microbiol., 46(6), 1999, pp 612-17).” These can be very large organisms with many branches of their pseudopods, as shown in the photos below.
Reticulomyxa-2.jpg
Reticulomyxa-2.jpg (124.46 KiB) Viewed 2028 times
Reticulomyxa-3.jpg
Reticulomyxa-3.jpg (102.09 KiB) Viewed 2028 times
The remarkable thing in observing this organism is the rapid movement of organelles within the pseudopodia and the cell body, as shown in the video below. I could not stop watching this!

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Wes
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#2 Post by Wes » Sat Oct 01, 2022 5:57 pm

Very cool, I have never seen this organism. How did you prepare the sample?
Zeiss Photomicroscope III BF/DF/Pol/Ph/DIC/FL/Jamin-Lebedeff
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WWWW
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#3 Post by WWWW » Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:09 pm

Nice to see this, I never seen this one.
A new species to hunt for ;)

tlansing
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#4 Post by tlansing » Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:24 pm

Hi Wes and WWWW: thanks for the comments

Wes, this was not very sophisticated. I removed a bit of algae and detritus from my collection jar, put it on a slide, added a coverslip and started scanning (this is what I usually do). Then I hope something interesting and photogenic will show up!

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KurtM
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#5 Post by KurtM » Sat Oct 01, 2022 11:26 pm

Here's another vote for Very Cool Post! I'd never heard of a FW foram either. Great images and super video!
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas
email: ngc704(at)gmail(dot)com
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macnmotion
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#6 Post by macnmotion » Sun Oct 02, 2022 5:15 am

Wow. First, nicely spotted! The video is just beautiful.

tlansing
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#7 Post by tlansing » Sun Oct 02, 2022 10:23 am

Hi Kurt and macromotion, thanks for your nice comments!

DonSchaeffer
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#8 Post by DonSchaeffer » Sun Oct 02, 2022 2:04 pm

This is amazing. Life has no limits.

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xioz
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Re: The naked freshwater forminiferan Reticulomyxa

#9 Post by xioz » Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:38 am

At first glance you would think it's a fungus. Thanks for the nice photos and video.

It amazes me that they stretch and maintain such a cell membrane around all of that activity, nothing like it in the macro world.
But then again, I guess there is as many orders of magnitude between us and them, as there are between them and the smaller molecules, so plenty of room for a complex structure.

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