Aeolosoma Videos

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:49 am

Aeolosoma egg? or possibly a cyst ? video still extract : 400x brightfield

Here's a question for you folks:

I believe I have a movie of an Aeolosoma inside an egg, about ready to hatch. But in doing web research it seems they reproduce by asexual budding. Perhaps this is an Aeolosoma moving about inside a cyst rather than inside an egg?

I posted some videos of some Aeolosomas in a state of budding and also a short video of the egg or cyst above.

http://www.heliotown.com/Aeolosoma.html

Maybe someone here knows about this species? Thanks for any info or corrections to my posted information.

Tom in New Mexico
Meiji microscope and optics Canon S3 IS camera

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:15 am

Tom... don't know much about the species, but have observed the egg/cyst? a fair number of times. You movies are excellent as usual. What software are you using to run the DivX compression on them?

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:35 pm

Charlie wrote : "What software are you using to run the DivX compression on them?"

Charlie, thanks for the comment.

I am using DivX Pro Codec software, version 6.2 in a Mac. I think it cost me $19.99 at the time I got it last July. It has different options and settings for various compression qualities.

It seems to work okay.

Tom

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:41 pm

Aeolosoma reproduce by means of "paratomical fission or paratomy." What you have in your quite excellent videos, to say the least WOW!, are very good examples of this. It seems as though they are splitting, budding, or undergoing binary fission but that is not the case to my understanding. As for the "cyst" or "egg," I am not so sure. Never heard of one producing eggs

. Sometimes during paratomical fission, you may see as many as four of them in a chain. I think the head begins to form in the middle of the parent organism. The parent gets a new tail and the offspring keeps the old one. I have a few shots of them somewhere, a couple showing the brain of the worm. If you care to browse the old microscopy forums, those images are posted in there also.

Heres the links, you might be interested in what Walter Dioni has to say about these creatures.

http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=3148
http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=3075

And still another link

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_92284519

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:46 pm

Hi Thomas

I would like to support Ken there. Neither have I read of Aelosoma reproducing by anything else but paratomy, nor of the formation of eggs or cysts. It must be something else. Drops of oil are a common feature in freshwater organisms (as you of course know!).

Bernhard

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:32 pm

Ken,

Thanks for the references to the previous forum threads. Great pics you posted.

Actually, I have been googling paratomy and Aeolosomas today and those forum threads gave the best information anywhere on the internet.

Tom

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:37 pm

bernhardinho wrote:Hi Thomas

I would like to support Ken there. Neither have I read of Aelosoma reproducing by anything else but paratomy, nor of the formation of eggs or cysts. It must be something else. Drops of oil are a common feature in freshwater organisms (as you of course know!).

Bernhard

Hi Bernhard,

Interesting, interesting.

Because of the orange spots, I was assuming that this was an Aeolosoma in some form or another. The video shows lots of movement inside.

Maybe someone will know what this is, or is not. Mysterious subjects are the most fun.

Tom

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:32 am

Well Thomas, on second thoughts. I've split your movie in single pics (around 500) and checked them. You can't see details clearly, but it does sort of look like a worm, I must confess. I found this on the web:

https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/181 ... 03_435.pdf

May be you found one of those exceptions from the rule!!

Bernhard

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:48 am

Bernhard,

Thanks for researching this and turning up that 1906 paper. That's a good find!

It is possible I still have samples of these Aeolosomas in my jars of pond specimens which are many months old now. These worms are rather hardy.

I will report back if I find anything further or conclusive.

Thomas

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:02 am

A very interesting find there Bernhard, seems I did not research far enough.

So, what Thomas has found here is a very rare occurance.

A round of "kudo's" for you there Thomas, a very good find and thanks to you Bernhard for your diligent efforts.

Thomas Ashcraft · Post by **Thomas Ashcraft** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:04 pm

Still from video at 400x

January 26, 2007

Well, as this thread stands now I am not quite sure if I have encountered an Aeolosoma egg or a cyst.

( Both possibilities are interesting. )

Today I examined my old pond samples and fortuitously found another specimen and made better videos. I posted a 12 second one at 400x and a 7 second one at 1000x. One shows the innards of the worm.

http://www.heliotown.com/Aeolosoma_Possible_Cyst.html

Maybe a worm expert will eventually find this thread and shed more light. In any case this forum thread may pop up when people google Aeolosoma topics.

Best to all,
Thomas / aka Tom

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:19 pm

Yom, Awesome videos!

stjepo · Post by **stjepo** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:01 am

I am new to this forum. Charles Krebs recommended it to me a few months ago to learn more about Microscopes and Microphotography. I have posted in Youtube a few videos and one of them is about an Aelosoma; this is the link. I hope you enjoy it.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fg1CpDr0Uk

Thank you for your attention

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:52 am

Kind of like watching one of those late night horror flicks on KTLA Los Angeles. Background audio was cool.