I got the chance to borrow a really nice macro lens today, and thought I'd share some of the photos I took of the small creatures in my tank. These were all taken with my Canon EOS 5d; the lens is a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x.
1) I think these are snail eggs - someone please correct me if they are something else - like forams or something? What ever they are, I sure have a lot of them. Not many snails, though, strangely enough.
2)
3) Another thing I have a lot of - small feather duster worms. This is one of the largest in the tank.
4) A closeup of the previous
5) This is a (fuzzy) closeup of some of the halimeda algae in the tank. Does halimeda just have large cells? I can see this structure with just my loupe!
6) I've got SCADS of these little guys. And clearly, I'm going to have even more! Are these some form of copepods, maybe? It doesn't show it in the photo, but looking at them under the loupe they have a reddish cast.
The lens is really showing its power here - these guys are tiny!
7) I've had a few of these show up recently. Kinda like tiny little clams - two broad hemispheres, and the creature in between. Tiny little hairs emerge from the hemispheres, some of which it uses to walk.
8) This guy seems to have taken up residence in a crack in the rock - he's more on the scale of the feather duster above. I don't know what he is, either.
I wasn't able to get any images of the amphipods - they were *way* too fast for me - I'd hardly reach for the focus dial before they'd scurry on.
Since getting the loupe, I've found the tiny creatures in the tank pretty interesting. Having the chance to take their picture has been great!
1) I think these are snail eggs - someone please correct me if they are something else - like forams or something? What ever they are, I sure have a lot of them. Not many snails, though, strangely enough.
2)
3) Another thing I have a lot of - small feather duster worms. This is one of the largest in the tank.
4) A closeup of the previous
5) This is a (fuzzy) closeup of some of the halimeda algae in the tank. Does halimeda just have large cells? I can see this structure with just my loupe!
6) I've got SCADS of these little guys. And clearly, I'm going to have even more! Are these some form of copepods, maybe? It doesn't show it in the photo, but looking at them under the loupe they have a reddish cast.
The lens is really showing its power here - these guys are tiny!
7) I've had a few of these show up recently. Kinda like tiny little clams - two broad hemispheres, and the creature in between. Tiny little hairs emerge from the hemispheres, some of which it uses to walk.
8) This guy seems to have taken up residence in a crack in the rock - he's more on the scale of the feather duster above. I don't know what he is, either.
I wasn't able to get any images of the amphipods - they were *way* too fast for me - I'd hardly reach for the focus dial before they'd scurry on.
Since getting the loupe, I've found the tiny creatures in the tank pretty interesting. Having the chance to take their picture has been great!
