Tardigrade - Water Bear or Moss Piglet

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 3:21 am

Thanks to Fred's detailed descriptions of where to find them, and after several tries trying to find one in moss collected from my roof and my yard, I finally found one in some moss collected at a nearby wildlife park.

They are much larger than I thought they would be. This video was recorded using a Tucsen 10Mp USB video camera mounted on the Trinocular port of an Amscope T-490B microscope at 4x and 10x.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae7_hoFItng

He's rather opaque compared to parameciums and other things I have found so far, and he never stops moving, so hard to photograph on a regular microscope. Still fun to watch. He spends a lot of energy going nowhere in a hurry.

Franz Neidl · Post by **Franz Neidl** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:11 am

Hello Mitch,

fine that you found a waterbaer. To your consolation a have to say, that it is terribly difficult to take a good picture from a waterbaer.
People interested in this animals can find in Internet a monthly(!) journal "Das Bärtierchen-Journal". It is written in German but it is easy to understand the picttures: http://www.baertierchen.de/tardigrada.html

Franz

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:31 am

Great link Franz. From the very first, I have been interested in these little guys. I will be looking at them many more times.

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 1:54 pm

Great video's Mitch!

I just answered you in the thread I started: http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... highlight=

I see Franz pointed you to the same site I got my info about the bears.
It's not only in german: http://www.baertierchen.de/main_engl.html
I'm not sure all the german pages are translated

-----------
Fred

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:04 pm

I wasn't ready for the opacity of these guys. Have you tried any illimination from above the slide? I have a biological type microscope and it's not really meant for top illumination, but I am wondering if it can be done with those gooseneck LED lights. The movement is another big hurdle. Without fast shutter speeds, it's impossible to stop the blur from motion. But like you said, the fun is in the trying.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 3:30 pm

Mitch,

This specimen is much darker than most I have seen. You might want to try darkfield.

If you search this site (and the old site) for "tardigrade" you'll find plenty of shots taken in brightfield.

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 3:42 pm

Thanks Charles. I think he must have been pigging out on some dark food. He looks stuffed. I did take his moss from a crumbling stump, so maybe there is a lot of tanin in it. I don't even know what he eats though.

I will try darkfield next time I find one.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 1:56 pm

Ha, I love the name Moss Piglet!

Great to see these, havent seen one in years!

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 1:59 pm

HA, and I haven't found another since this one. I even put this one back in the petrie dish, alive.