Green Thing

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Donw
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Green Thing

Post by Donw »

Unknown for ID. Probably a ciliate, but no cilia seen. Likewise, no clear eyespot.

https://youtu.be/i9QzMlTEjE4

Robert Berdan
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Euglenoid

Post by Robert Berdan »

The organism you show in your movie is a member of the euglenoids. It's moving by a flagellum. It's not possible to identify the species in your movie, you need to be able to see if it has one or two flagellum and if they are of unequal width. Most euglena have 2 flagellum, but in some species one flagellum does not extend outside the mouth.

In brightfield microscopy the flagellum can be difficult to see sometimes, try Darkfield, Phase contrast or DIC to view the flagellum.

Bruce Taylor
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Post by Bruce Taylor »

I can see how it might be taken for a euglenoid. However, this is Holophrya ovum, a common prostomatean ciliate. Note the large terminal vacuole, single elliptical macronucleus and the presence of large amounts of half-digested food (photosynthetic euglenoids can take in dissolved nutrients by osmotrophy, but don't ingest large particles like these). The rotating movement is characteristic. The green colour is caused by symbiotic algae (zoochlorellae). :)
It Came from the Pond (Blog): http://www.itcamefromthepond.com/

Robert Berdan
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Thanks for the correction

Post by Robert Berdan »

I had a quick look at your blog - it looks very interesting I will spend more time reading it in the near future. I have seen euglena species roll around like what I saw in the movie - they are often very flexible and in brightfield microscopy sometimes one can't see the flagellum, but I am always learning. Thanks for the correction. I will check out the species you mentioned.

Thanks for the correction.

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