ID of microscopic creature?

[Susan Lohrer]

I found this in water taken from the bottom of my refugium. The magnification is 1200x (sorry for the picture quality--it was pretty much a miraculous feat just to hit the button on my phone's camera while aiming it at the tiny hole in the microscope's eyepiece).

Does anyone know what this little guy is?

 

[pagojoe]

I'd guess it's a fluke, but anything that requires a microscope is out of my league. Maybe someone else will be able to give you a definitive answer, but microscope photos don't have a great record on here of getting positive ID's Good luck!

Cheers,



Don

 

[Susan Lohrer]

I hope not.

It just now occurred to me that I know how to use Google Images to search for things. (D'oh.) The thing I can find that looks closest is Pleurosigma (a diatom).

 

[gnasher]

Does it move? If so, how?

 

[Susan Lohrer]

I'm not sure how it moves (the mechanism). I can't see any cilia. It glides in one direction and then back again. Always with a pointy end leading, never sideways.

 

[pagojoe]

Looks like you found it yourself, good job!

 

[Susan Lohrer]

Looks like you found it yourself, good job!

Well, maybe. There are a lot of other diatoms that look close to the same, so I probably got the name wrong. I read somewhere that unless you dry out the insides and inspect just the test (the "shell"), it could be just about any kind of diatom, and you couldn't begin to guess which one.

I think the most interesting things in my tank are the ones I can't see.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

You nerd!
:thumbsup:

 

[Susan Lohrer]

You nerd!
:thumbsup:

If your avatar is anything to go by, I'm in good company. :lmao: My mom was a lab tech, so I come by it naturally.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

No way! Really? Your mom was a lab tech too? Cool.
It's always great to meet fellow women nerds.

 

[Susan Lohrer]

No way! Really? Your mom was a lab tech too? Cool.
It's always great to meet fellow women nerds.

Pleased to meet you. (And why do we not have a nerd emoticon?)