Gastronauta membranaceus (edited from being unidentified)

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:48 am

Microscope: Leitz Dialux
Ocular: 10x GF Periplan
Objective: 40/0.70 NPL Fluotar ICT (DIC)
Sample from garden pond
Flash

All images of the same specimen

Martin Kreutz · Post by **Martin Kreutz** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:37 pm

Hi Graham,

this strange ciliate is Gastronauta membranaceus with an unique shape of the mouth. Eugene Penard found Gastronauta in moss and Kahl in ponds as well as in shells of the genus Sphaerium. Therefore Kahl assumend that Gastronauta could be a commensale of Sphaerium shells.

Martin

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:53 pm

Thanks Martin - I'd have never got that one!

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:53 pm

Very very interesting!
Thank you for sharing it!

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:15 am

An unusual ciliate. I think you had better get your pond declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI as they are known in the UK!)

Your new DIC setup looks like it is working well. Is flash through a beam splitter or a fibre optic Y arm?

zzffnn · Post by **zzffnn** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:40 am

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing!

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:08 am

The flash arrangements are the same I usually use with a dual feed fibre optic cable. The same feed fits most of my instruments

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:14 pm

Unusual creature, and you managed to nicely record some key features.