Amoeba pottery

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Charles Krebs
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Amoeba pottery

Post by Charles Krebs »

The top is a "cross-eyed" stereo version.

Image

I'll admit... there are some creatures I find in my water samples that are so common that I don't often give them a second look anymore. But the "shelled amoebas", as common as they are, nearly always get appreciative look. That these tiny blobs of protoplasm are able to produce such perfect "tests", of tremendous variety, is always a fascination.

This shot was taken with a Nikon 50/0.8 LU Plan. 395 image stack at 0.4 micron steps.

Image
Last edited by Charles Krebs on Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Troels
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Post by Troels »

Really nice - and interesting stereo.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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carlos.uruguay
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Post by carlos.uruguay »

Exceptionally beautiful photos!

WalterD
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Post by WalterD »

Very interesting and excellent pictures!
Until not so long ago I did not even know this kind of amoeba existed that builds its own "house" from all kinds of collected microscopic material found in its environment. It's another surprising detail of how incredible the nature that surrounds us is organized. (I also heard that new amoeba are discovered relatively often. To make it official, they should be dried and their DNA subject to analysis....)

Olympusman
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Amoeba test

Post by Olympusman »

I am always amazed that a single-cell organism with no brain can construct a test. Some glue them together and some, like Arcella, generate them. The other thing amazing about Arcella is that when it wants to flip over, it generates a gas bubble to change its buoyancy. Also, we can identify the species by the test.

Mike
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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Beautiful work! As always, I'm especially taken with the stereo.

In the stereo I can see what looks like a small hole near the back of the test -- right side in these images, just above center. Is that a defect in this one test, or some general feature?

--Rik

Sumguy01
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Post by Sumguy01 »

:smt038 Very nice.
STEREO = WOW :shock:
Thanks for sharing.

Smokedaddy
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Post by Smokedaddy »

Beautiful

micro_pix
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Post by micro_pix »

It's quite jaw dropping to have this view of an amoeba test. Remarkable work Charles. I'd love to know how the lighting was done.

David

sushidelic
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Post by sushidelic »

Fascinating pictures! Can you shed some light on the actual scale of those tests?

Best regards,
Michael

Marek Mis
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Post by Marek Mis »

Great images, especially the second one.

Marek

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Thanks for all the kind remarks!
sushidelic wrote:Can you shed some light on the actual scale of those tests?
This one is pretty large. It is about 295 microns by 315 microns.

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

micro_pix wrote:I'd love to know how the lighting was done.
The test was placed on a slide and allowed to dry (No cover slip involved). I surrounded the subject with a small cylinder made from a piece of a Lee Filter diffusion sheet. This cylinder was just large enough in diameter to allow the objective to be lowered down inside. I used two LED lights from the outside onto the exterior walls of the cylinder and varied the brightness and "shading" until I liked what I saw. This particular object has only about 1mm working distance so this does not work well for many subjects.
rjlittlefield wrote:In the stereo I can see what looks like a small hole near the back of the test -- right side in these images, just above center. Is that a defect in this one test, or some general feature?--Rik
Rik, I didn't notice that until after making the stereo version. The is a small indentation there... likely a small defect or damage, not a feature.

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