A few more Collotheca rotifer

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Wed May 15, 2013 12:15 am

Wow. Just wow. The first one is my favorite but they're all great. Where did you find them (under lilly pads? on rotten vegetation?)? I've got dozens of species of rotifers in my pond but I've only found an example of Collotheca once.

David

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:36 am

David,

I am finding quite a few of these (along with Flocularia ringens) in a "new" location I've been sampling. They are readily found on fine grass blades (as can be seen in the first image) that grow at the waters edge.

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:45 am

Hmmmm. Grass you say. So I have most probably been stepping on them as I wade out into my pond (past the grasses at the edge of course) to get what I thought was a better sample...

Thanks,

David

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Wed May 15, 2013 12:39 pm

The first picture is perfect, beautiful

albertr · Post by **albertr** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:17 pm

Amazing shots! What setup was used to produce these?

-albertr

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:31 pm

I love the detail you are getting in the cilia. Were you using flash to arrest the motion?

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Thu May 16, 2013 5:10 am

Very nice, specially #1.

Rogelio

Marek Mis · Post by **Marek Mis** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:21 am

Beautiful images !

The first one is excellent. I very like photographying the microorganisms in their real habitat. These two rotifers are wonderful. You were lucky to find them together one by one.

Marek

myriophyllum · Post by **myriophyllum** » Thu May 16, 2013 12:05 pm

Hi Charles,

a great pleasure to look at these photos. :-)

Greetings

Jens

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri May 17, 2013 5:48 pm

Thanks for the comments!

albertr,

What setup was used to produce these?

These are with an Olympus BHS, with DIC. The objectives were 10X, 20X, and the last was 40X (S-Plan Apos).

Waldo,

Were you using flash to arrest the motion?

I was using flash, but unlike so many rotifers where the cilia move rapidly in a metachronal manner, with these rotifers the cilia are very still. They don't move until some potential "food" brushes against them.