My last pond sample had quite a few Arcella in it. They can look very different depending on the viewing angle, and I've always thought a "diagonal" view gave the best overall sense of the shape of the test. But it's been tough to find a nice looking one in the proper orientation that would remain still enough for a "stack" to be made. I found one today that looked promising so I took the shots. It was taken with the 40X, and because of the angle and depth, when the correction collar was set for the "top" the bottom looked a little soft. Frankly, I was not expecting Helicon Focus to "spit out" anything good, but was rather surprised and pleased with the result. Of the shots of Arcella I've taken with a mind to representing the true shape, this one does OK.
The lower image is a view of a different Arcella using the 100X. I think I have posted similar ones, but I can't resist taking more shots when there is a good one creeping across the cover slip!
Top: Canon 350D, Olympus 40X S Plan Apo. 1.67X NFK eyepiece. Brightfield illumination.
Bottom: Canon 350D, Olympus 100X S Plan Apo. 1.67X NFK eyepiece. DIC with electronic flash
Arcella, diagonal stack, and 100X
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Charlie,
Well, these two certainly conform to your "manly magnifications" exhortation -- and they're beautiful besides!
The diagonal view of Arcella is one that I've not seen before. (I don't spend much time staring into a microscope, and it seems that nobody publishes these diagonal views -- no surprise, since without stacking, it would be essentially impossible to interpret.)
It's really incredible that you could get this shot with ordinary brightfield -- the dang thing is so sharp and clear that I'd swear you had substituted a partially deflated basketball!
I know that other people have encouraged you to turn this stuff into a book, but I figure one more vote can't hurt. If you do it, I'll buy copies for myself and a stable of friends to boot.
--Rik
Well, these two certainly conform to your "manly magnifications" exhortation -- and they're beautiful besides!
The diagonal view of Arcella is one that I've not seen before. (I don't spend much time staring into a microscope, and it seems that nobody publishes these diagonal views -- no surprise, since without stacking, it would be essentially impossible to interpret.)
It's really incredible that you could get this shot with ordinary brightfield -- the dang thing is so sharp and clear that I'd swear you had substituted a partially deflated basketball!
I know that other people have encouraged you to turn this stuff into a book, but I figure one more vote can't hurt. If you do it, I'll buy copies for myself and a stable of friends to boot.
--Rik
I don't about where you live Charlie but I assume that it would be the same as here in what I am about to write. Amoebae have been an interest of mine for a good while, especially those that are pathogenic but aside from those; I find that with the coming of cooler and colder weather, amoebae like the Arcella and other testates plus A. proteus become more prolific during the cooler/colder months of the year and they seem to prefer to be around submerged plant life such as Fountain moss and other aquatic mosses. Maybe it has to do with the high DO levels that arise during the colder months, since the cooler the water the better it is able to hold dissolved oxygen I am assuming. However recently I have read that protists are also anaerobic and like bacteria are capable of living in the absence of free oxygen, which leaves me scratching my head and wondering about my observations. Although pathogenic amoebae such as Acanthamoeba and Naegleria fowleri and some others thrive in the hot summer months when DO levels are extremely low. Now what all this has to do with Arcella I am really not sure...I am just an old man rambling on. But, as you all know I really like amoebas. Great photographs as usual Charlie and I am waiting hopefully for you to add a new book to my library.