Tardigrades (also known as water bears) are microscopic, 8-legged animals comprising the phylum Tardigrada. Water bears can withstand temperature extremeties, high radiation, and even the vacuum of space, making them one of the most durable organisms on the planet aside from extremophilic archaea.
I honestly think this is one of the nicest photos I’ve taken.
With the help of a microaquarium, I was able to capture and observe these two Ostracods. For more on Ostracods, view earlier posts.
Gastrotricha is a phylum of multicellular, microscopic, pseudocoelemate animals. They are often ciliated, and some possess small spines.
In the same sample as the strange mold, I found more spiny worms and quite a number of large nematodes; most of which were visible without the microscope.
Great news! With a recent income of information, I was able to establish what this organism actaully is. It is an Ostracod, which are also called Seed Shrimp for their seed-lile resemblance. Ostracoda, a class of Crustaceans, possess a single eye, and two shells divided down the middle and linked by a hinge. They possess 3 legs and two antennae. This speciemen was covered in epibiotic Sessilids (Sessilida is an order of Petrichia, a subclass of the ciliates. Examples of sessilids are Vorticella and Epistylis)
Many of these large, segmented worms lived among the algae on the slide previously mentioned. I’m not exactly sure what taxon these are in, but are close in resemblance to worms in the phylum Chaetognatha as they possess a destinct head region, a trunk-like neck, and a tail region (the tail end appeared to have a holdfast).
After patient use with a pipette, I managed to capture and view this copepod. The two large clumps toward the posterior of the crustacean are egg sacks; so naturally, it’s presumed that this particular specimen is female.
For more on these soil nematodes, watch this video, or visit my YouTube channel for more videos of the micro planet!
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