Rotifer with egg amid Trachelomonas

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:45 am

Olympus BHS. Olympus 40/0.95 S Plan Apo. Olympus NFK 1.67x photoeyepiece. DIC illumination with electronic flash. Canon 50D.

Olympus BHS. Olympus 60/1.40 S Plan Apo. Olympus NFK 1.67x photoeyepiece. DIC illumination with electronic flash. Canon 50D.

Ernst Hippe · Post by **Ernst Hippe** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 3:01 am

Charles,
thank you again for perfect pictures. I like it if the objects are shown in their natural environment, not always "cleaned" by special programs!
Ernst

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:34 am

Beautiful work. I knew rotifers reproduced by eggs and had eyes, but this is the first time I have seen either. I assume the red spot is the eye?

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:20 am

Charles,

Very nice details and colors.

What is the red spot?

Rogelio

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 3:21 pm

I'm not sure of the "composition" of rotifer eyes. More basic protozoan eye-spots are groups of lipid globules of carotenoid pigments. They provide some orientation to existing light and (as is clearly seen in trachelomonas and dinoflagellates) allow the organism to move toward the light.

In a discussion of whether or not to use eye-spots for classification purposes, there is some interesting information in this excerpt:

There are a couple of older shots here that show rotifer eye-spots clearly:
http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=4804

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:53 am

Very nice how the cilia touch the flagellum. Or is it undulipodium? Or should we now call eukaryote flagella also cilia? :-)

Rotifers have many interesting organs. Have you ever seen the flame cells working?

Wim