Some more fresh water discoveries

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ddavis1979
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:16 am
Location: Richmond, VA USA

Some more fresh water discoveries

Post by ddavis1979 »

The first image here is showing two different kinds of heliozoa. Didn't know which one was which but I think one of them is actinosphaerium, which is the other one?

Image

I also ran across this carapace that I couldn't identify, I do have a few kinds of shrimp in the tank, maybe a piece of shell?

Image

Then I found two types of amoeba that I had never seen before, identification is always welcome. One has very long pseudopods, and the other is a huge amoeba with very short bulky pseudopods.

Image
Image

Then finally a video (sorry no sound) of a worm and the other organisms that surround it. There is a big amoeba, a regular amoeba, a ciliate (unknwn), a heliozoan, and I switch back and forth from x200 and x800.

http://youtu.be/u1fT_PZAJlg
~Dave D. ~

Charles Krebs
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
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Post by Charles Krebs »

David,

The amoeba in your third shot is known as an "amoeba radiosa". Not a specific species, but a "shape" that certain amoebae take on when they are not in contact with any substrate (i.e. "free-falling" or floating). If you stay with them long enough you will usually see them revert to a more "normal" amoeba morphology once they settle on a surface.
Last edited by Charles Krebs on Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ddavis1979
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:16 am
Location: Richmond, VA USA

Post by ddavis1979 »

After having more time to do research this is what I have found....I am open to helpful comments that alter my assumptions.

It would seem that the big heliozoan is a Actinosphaerium eichhorni and is about 150µm diameter, not including axopodia. the smaller one is an Actinophrys and only measures about 40 µm in diameter.

I am assuming the most commonly seen and known amoeba is the "Proteus." Concerning the floating shape.....in this sample, I found multiple occurances of this shape amoeba, but had never seen it before. This leads me to think that this is not an Amoeba Proteus, however I could certainly be mistaken. the larger amoeba looks like it could be an Chaos carolinense given that its over 200µm, but is lacking some of the more distict wrinkles in pseudopods.

The spiky shell is still mysterious, I havent been able to find any magnified shrimp that look similar.
~Dave D. ~

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