Has anyone ever seen this?

Olympusman · Post by **Olympusman** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:30 pm

Found in pond water. I was able to rotate it by tapping the cover glass with a teasing needle so you can see the backside. It looks like bubbles, but they are firm. There is a diatom inside.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:54 pm

Just a wild guess but how about an encysted protist of some sort, maybe one having ingested a diatom prior to?

Protos · Post by **Protos** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 3:20 am

reminds me of some heliozoan without spicles

Olympusman · Post by **Olympusman** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:34 pm

Actinophrys sol New image showing spines

Ferry · Post by **Ferry** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 9:00 am

It is Actinosphaerium eichhornii... probably

Olympusman · Post by **Olympusman** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 9:34 am

Ferry,
Thanks, but I'm sticking with Actinophrys sol.
The samples of Actinosphaerium eichornii shown at http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/pdb/images ... index.html do not exhibit the bubble-like structure and also appear to captured at a high magnification. My samples are quite large and are captured with a 10x objective.

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:31 pm

Michael, you can probably trust Ferry's eye when it comes to the "heliozoa."

With Roijackers, he did a lot of pioneering work on these organisms in the 80s and 90s, and knows as much about them as anyone alive.

Ferry · Post by **Ferry** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 1:56 pm

Actinophrys sol is small compared with Actinosphaerium, which can be up to 2600 microns!
See http://www.arcella.nl/actinosphaerium-eichhornii

Has anyone ever seen this?

Has anyone ever seen this?

It's a heliozoan

Heliozoan