Rotifers

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Robert Berdan
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Rotifers

Post by Robert Berdan »

Rotifers are one of my favourite subjects for photomicrography. The turtle rotifer Testudinella patina is particularly interesting and I have been finding lots of them this year. I photograph them using DIC, Darkfield, Bright field, and polarizing microscopy. Below I have attached a few rotifer images.
taken with my Zeiss Axioscope, Nikon D800 camera using ISO 200 and free software - Digicam control which allows me to control the camera in Live view from my laptop. I also record movies from which I can extract high quality images. I have attached two other rotifer species.

For those that might be interested I have an article on my web site Photographing rotifers: https://www.canadiannaturephotographer. ... ifers.html

By the end of this summer I hope to add Version II of this article with many of my new photos of rotifers. All the rotifers are photographed live, to photograph them I pin them down carefully by drawing water out from below the coverslip so they can't swim away, too much pressure though and they burst. I also focus-stack the images to get as much depth of field as possible - for stacking I used Adobe photoshop, I have also found Helicon focus to be excellent.
Testudineall patina DIC microscopy 400X
Testudineall patina DIC microscopy 400X
Testudinella patina Bright field microscopy 400X
Testudinella patina Bright field microscopy 400X
Testudinella patina Polarizing microscopy 400X
Testudinella patina Polarizing microscopy 400X
Platyias quadracornis DIC 400X
Platyias quadracornis DIC 400X
Syncheta pectinata DIC 400X
Syncheta pectinata DIC 400X

Sumguy01
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Location: Ketchikan Alaska USA

Re: Rotifers

Post by Sumguy01 »

=D> Very nice.
Thanks for sharing.

Olympusman
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Re: Rotifers

Post by Olympusman »

Very nice, especially the Testudinella, a very difficult subject.

Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

Adalbert
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Re: Rotifers

Post by Adalbert »

very nice :smt038

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Rotifers

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

These photos are simply amazing! Please don't tempt me on DIC...

carlos.uruguay
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Re: Rotifers

Post by carlos.uruguay »

Nice!

micro_pix
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Location: Southampton, Hampshire, UK

Re: Rotifers

Post by micro_pix »

Lovely images. I have started using ring binder hole reinforcement discs on slides to try and prevent squishing things, it works quite well but the to smaller stuff it's like an Olympic swimming pool!

David

Smokedaddy
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Re: Rotifers

Post by Smokedaddy »

Wow, very nice.

WalterD
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Re: Rotifers

Post by WalterD »

Well done, nice comparison between different illumination techniques. =D>

Robert Berdan
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Re: Rotifers

Post by Robert Berdan »

Hi David - a very simple technique to hold rotifers in place is to put little dabs of vaseline or vacuum grease on the microscope slide to support the coverslip. I use a syringe to apply very small drops of vacuum grease, then place the coverslip on top and draw water out from under the coverslip using a small piece of paper towel or filter paper. By watching while doing this with a stereomicroscope I can often see when rotifers, stentors and other large ciliates stop swimming and then examine them. If you draw too much water you can squish the organisms with practice you can guage how much water to draw out and it works well for me most of the time. Smaller organisms like gastrotrichs can aslo be trapped this way, but not the very smallest ciliates.

Trying to attach an image to show this process - will try one more time
Attachments
coverglass_flattening_1024.jpg

micro_pix
Posts: 469
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 12:05 pm
Location: Southampton, Hampshire, UK

Re: Rotifers

Post by micro_pix »

Thanks Rob, I did try vaseline on the slide but had difficulty applying it consistently and would usually end up in bit of a mess. I didn’t consider using a small syringe, I’ll give it a try.

David

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