Metachaos gratum - probably

[ralfwagner]

Hello,

this nice amoeba was pressed out of Spaghnum-moss. I suppose it is Metachaos gratum because of its verrucous back end, but maybe it is another species. Anyhow, one of my dreams, to watch an amoeba during the process of phagocytosis, again remained unfulfilled while observing this critter .



40x/0,75 Ph2, plan-neofluar objective

[Wim van Egmond]

It is a beautiful image, Ralph! I am sure you will find them feeding. Perhaps it is a matter of making a slide and letting it come to rest for a while?

Wim

[Ken Ramos]

Ralf said:

...one of my dreams, to watch an amoeba during the process of phagocytosis, again remained unfulfilled while observing this critter

I too have often hoped for the same thing there Ralf but as yet to see it happen. The processes involved in the formation of the endocytic vesicle is what interests me the most Ralf and then what enzymes are there, that are released for the digestion processes. I guess we could go on from there to give thought as to what nutrients are extracted from the digested prey and to what cellular componets are they then distributed to for function and/or purpose Amoebae do not see to be much to observe, just a lot of oozing around it seems but if one studies them further they might find that they, the amoebae, are quite amazing organisms and seem to have a form of pseudointelligence. Wonderful image Ralf