My microscope finally came in. I set it up on a horizontal stand (weighs about 90 pounds) in front of my tank to get upclose and personal with my dendronephthia.
Some initial observations.... at 67x it is clear there are 8 tenticles on each polyp head each having 8-10 small perpendicular projections from each tenticle. The polyps do in fact retract and expand like xenia. They also can move the tenticles individually in a sudden jerking motion toward the disk. This was much more frequent after feeding. The size of finally crushed flake food is small enough for them too consume, and I saw some definite capture and feeding on a few particles, then my light source blew a fuse!!
It's too late now to get another until tomorrow. I hope it isn't going to need to be sent back! At least the scope is working.
Photography is a little tricky because the digital camera keeps trying to auto focus, and the image only fills the small center part of the field. The pics are not nearly as good as the image through the scope, but I am still working on it. I will try to see different foods (phytoplankton, marine snow, baby brine shrimp etc. to see which resullts in the best feeding response. Any suggestions as to how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
Ron


Photography is a little tricky because the digital camera keeps trying to auto focus, and the image only fills the small center part of the field. The pics are not nearly as good as the image through the scope, but I am still working on it. I will try to see different foods (phytoplankton, marine snow, baby brine shrimp etc. to see which resullts in the best feeding response. Any suggestions as to how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
Ron