Microworld Magic

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 3:40 pm

I haven’t been doing much with the microscopy hobby lately, but I got a sample of pond water today and saw something that lent itself to creating a little story. My trained rotifers and ciliates created an amazingly symmetrical and balanced work of art.

Frame Grab:

Video link: https://youtu.be/yrpC2aDXDgs

Tom Jones · Post by **Tom Jones** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 5:16 pm

That makes up for you not doing much lately.
Nicely done!

Tom

zzffnn · Post by **zzffnn** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 5:18 pm

Magical indeed! Besides from Mr. Porter, the world-famous protist wizard, who else can we expect it from?

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Sun Jul 24, 2016 4:38 am

Thanks Tom and Fan! I was just having a little fun with this one, trying to make something out of next to nothing.

ralfwagner · Post by **ralfwagner** » Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:53 pm

It was much fun for me to watch this video!

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:10 am

ralfwagner wrote:It was much fun for me to watch this video!

Thanks, Ralf, I'm glad you liked it!

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:29 am

Someday you could explain us the language to talk with these critters!

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:35 am

Pau wrote:
Someday you could explain us the language to talk with these critters!

On another forum, a poster humorously commented that he didn't know that rotifers spoke English. I replied to him that, "They aren't English speaking! I had to learn Morse Code to communicate with them as they have no hearing and their eyesight is very limited. I used a fine wire (never shown in the video) to tap out Morse code on the dorsal side of their lorica. The main problem with using rotifers for tasks like this is their short life span. By the time I have them trained up, they've got only a few days of life left. Timing is everything in this business."

Thanks for watching, Pau!

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:14 pm

Very nice !

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:13 am

Jacek wrote:Very nice !

Thank you, Jacek!