I have a Nikon D90 tethered to the trinocular head.
Here is a photo of a small rotifer I believe from my reef aquarium, at 20x, using darkfield. Have I done it right? It is a single frame - no stacking (yet):

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Quite possible... It looks like a copepod without the two spiny things at the apex of the abdomen, but the red triangle feature on its thorax is very different from my copepods. This has been identified as a rotifer by another reef aquarium enthusiast so it is quite possible he made a mistake.Planapo wrote:Waldo,
I'd say you have done very well with your new equipment, especially as it is your first go with it!
As to the ID of your critter: Did you see any typical rotifer features? Being not that much familiar with rotifers, particularly not with marine ones as there are only few species inhabiting saltwater, I could be mistaken, but the animal you have photographed here does not look very rotifer-like to me. From what I see in your photo, I'd think more of a crustacean.
--Betty
There does seem to be quite a few companies cashing in on the reef supplements craze. Though that doesn't mean that this is one such example. They may merely have died after depleting their food.pwnell wrote:Then I am confused! I purchased a bottle of Living Reef Live Zooplankton Rotifers, and that was the only living thing I found in the bottle.
Hmmm snake oil? I'll do my research better next time, thanks.
Woa! That is exactly what I was looking for... As I said I am not a biologist, this is to keep me sane from my real work, so it is really great to find a reference site where I can start looking for identifications.Charles Krebs wrote:Waldo,
Nice to see you are up and running.
A good page to have bookmarked is:
http://starcentral.mbl.edu/microscope/p ... azorganism
(Home page: http://starcentral.mbl.edu/microscope/p ... itle=index )
Might not be all that helpful looking at marine tank specimens, but overall a great resource.