These mites are tiny! Watch them move under the microscope. Mites are arthropods that belong to the arachnida. They have an exoskeleton that they shed off when they grow. This is called moulting. In this video I look at some mites that I found in an old water sample, first with the stereo microscope, then with the compound microscope. As there are thousands of different mite species (some estimates go over 50000), it is impossible for me to say what species I am looking at here. The “moral of the story”: Not only paramecia, water bears, ciliates and water fleas are interesting to look at, but also water mites!