Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Robert Berdan
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:58 pm
Location: Calgary
Contact:

Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Robert Berdan »

I collected pond specimens every week over the summer north of Calgary and found one small pond with these very colourful ciliates. The ciliates appeared to be feeding on cyano-bacteria (Oscillatorie) and many of them had colourful vacuoles inside, and a nasse or special feeding apparatus. With some help from friend Bruce Taylor - the identification of these ciliates were identified as Nassula and Obertrumia sp. The colours inside the cells is due to the digestion of cyanobacteria. Also when the cells were pinned they exhibited cytoplasmic streaming. A few of these beautiful cilliates are shown below and I posted an article and video on them on my web site for those that might have interest. I only found the nassulids for about 2 weeks before they disappeared. My wife even helped collecting speciments and making the background music for the video.

Article: https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/Nassula.html with embeded video - Youtube video only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlyP6K1YKgY

Nassula 100X DIC
Nassula 100X DIC
Nassula 100X BF
Nassula 100X BF
Cytoplasm 400X DIC
Cytoplasm 400X DIC
Cytoplasm 630X
Cytoplasm 630X
Nassula 100X DF
Nassula 100X DF
The article includes links to other videos, science papers and web sites

Scarodactyl
Posts: 1617
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:26 am

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Scarodactyl »

That is a really exceptional set of images!

Luis Carlos
Posts: 90
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:42 am

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Luis Carlos »

The images are extraordinarily beautiful and the video is excellent. I have never seen a ciliate so colored!

Sumguy01
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:05 pm
Location: Ketchikan Alaska USA

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Sumguy01 »

=D> Very nice set.
Thanks for sharing.

Sym P. le
Posts: 246
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:53 pm
Location: BC

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Sym P. le »

Stunning! I thought the images were colorized until I saw the video. The small world just keeps on giving.

Online
Adalbert
Posts: 2426
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:09 pm

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Adalbert »

very nice :smt041

Bob-O-Rama
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 6:46 am
Location: Allentown, PA, USA, Earth, etc.
Contact:

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Bob-O-Rama »

Those are gorgeous, almost sci-fi like in nature.

ModelZ
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:34 am
Location: Northern Europe

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by ModelZ »

Very nice work on these weird creatures. Maybe with a palette that striking you can't hide and will quickly be eaten...

KarlGaff
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:27 am
Location: Dublin
Contact:

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by KarlGaff »

Wow nice find Robert! Beautiful images. I have been looking for these cilliates for years.

Macro_Cosmos
Posts: 1511
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:23 pm
Contact:

Re: Colourful Nassulid Ciliates

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Must have been a feast! That darkfield image is my favourite, the colours are beautiful.

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic