Colpoda with confusing macronucleus?

[nanometer]

20x DIC, flash. Pretty compressed by the coverslip. It seems like a Colpoda, but I can't find a single image online showing this kind of macronucleus structure.

[Robert Berdan]

Hi beautiful photo with DIC - The Y shape nucleus is unusual. Also in this photo your background does not have the mottled appearance but is smooth. As you mentioned before some of us use Photoshop to clean the background and remove distracting elements, but most of the time the background I see with DIC is smooth as you show in this picture.

Very nice photo showing lots of detail. Did you buy the DIC for yourself or do you use a microscope in research? I thought I was one of the few to invest so much money in DIC optics. Now if I could only afford a confocal microscope

Cheers
RB

[nanometer]

Hi Robert. Thanks for commenting. The mottled background was a consequence of my global use of the dehaze tool in Lightroom. So I don't do that anymore. Plus I'm not very good at cleaning my slides and coverslips, so the dehaze tool would emphasize that.

I'm just a hobbyist. Yes, this was a big expense, but that's how it goes with hobbies. No vacation this year (or last) and a DIC rig instead. I can't figure out why I have such wonder and amazement for each drop of water, but I do. This hobby combines my other passion which is photography, so it's a twofer.

I draw the line at confocal and epi-flour!

[Robert Berdan]

HI - thanks for your reply - I am the same way I love looking at micro-organisms from pond water - they are amazing and I am trying to promote microscopy more to others and show the beauty that exists in the micro-world.

I couldn't find a DIC microscope for under $10,000 - and decided that this might be my last chance in life, so I sold lots of my stuff and bought a Zeiss Axioscope with DIC and phase. I will be paying for it a for a few years, but I love it. I am trying to find a way to make some money back with it, but I will do it even if I don't. I have several refurbished microscopes now as well. Wide field flourescence isn't that expensive I purchased a used scope for $600 and I should take more pictures with it. Polarization is cheap to add and it results in some amazing colours and you already have this feature if you own a DIC scope - just pull out the DIC prisms and put a polarizer over the light source. I am going to rent some time on a confocal microscope because the pictures I have seen by Igor Siwanowicz - see his Stenors on this forum - they are so beautiful that I have to try it.

I look forward to seeing more of your pictures. What I enjoy about this forum is that lots of folks are sharing their passions, information and amazing pictures and I have made a few friends that share this passion.

Best wishes
RB

[actinophrys]

This doesn't seem to have the groove typical of colpodids, either. You can partly see the mouth and oral cilia in the upper left of the photo. I think their shape mark this as a hymenostome, maybe something like Ophryoglena, which often have elliptical macronuclei but in some species more elongate ones.

[nanometer]

Thanks Actin. The mouth didn't look right to me, but I'm not very familiar with IDs. I'll check into your suggestion.

Steve

[nanometer]

Yes--your suggestion looks like a better fit. I see mention of a light sensor near the mouth opening. Perhaps I'm stretching here, but I recall seeing an odd-looking copperish bridge on one of the 20x images. Here is a crop. I wonder if this is the sensor?