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Mystery Bug of the Month

July-05

Lion Tamers from the Depths below? Get your whip ready. . . . .

OK, well they are not really from oceans below or under the sea, in reality these little critters were found in a wastewater treatment plant. What surprised me is how agile and flexible these little critters are. They can twist and turn their bodies in all directions, squeeze through any situation and keep on going! It was amazing to watch.

They use their whip like flagella for motion!

We do have videos of this, but they are too large to load on a website. They are one megabyte for each second. Some of the videos were 20-30 seconds. You may contact us for copies of the videos if you are interested.

These photomicrographs were taken from a wastewater sample. Most of the objectives used were 100x and 400x and 1000x. Many photos of the flagellates were taken at 1000x.

Come take a closer look at the amazing world under the microscope!

1000x Bright Field Above is one of the flagellates close up You never know what you will find under the microscope. . . .1000x	ok, here is our flagellate at the beginning of this photo session- Bright field,
A Peranema is a colorless euglenoid with two flagella, although only one is usually visible through the microscope.	The Peranema has a very distinct flagella that it uses in a whip like motion for movement 400x
Sometimes the flagellum can be longer than the body of the organism. 400x	1000x
Peranema are a close relative of the Euglena	They are very active predators and scavengers.
Euglenoids are unicellular organisms classified into the Kingdom Protista, and the Phylum Mastigophora Mastigophora (the Flagellates) are protozoans propelled by one or more flagella.	Euglenoid (Peranema, Euglenophyceae
All euglena have chloroplasts and can make their own food by photosynthesis
They twist and turn in all different directions	The Peranema can undergo extreme contraction sand distortions as it moves
These flagellates live in both freshwater and marine environments as well as soil and can also live as parasites.


They can ingest large quantities of bacteria and algae and even some small organisms by expanding the cytostome -- the cavity which lies at the base of the flagellum.

Remember, this is all in one drop of water on a slide under the microscope !!!	1000x Bright Field Above are photomicrographs of the flagellates close up You never know what you will find under the microscope. . . .

Phytomastigophora
Euglenophyceae or Euglenida

Euglenophyceae: Heteronematales
Euglenida: Heteronematina
Peranema

Typical cell body- 100 μm long, 20 μm wide, flagellum 100 μm long

Peranema are small flagellates and range in size from 20-70 um in diameter.

The sample came from a wastewater treatment plant that was running an older sludge. All of a sudden thousands of flagellates showed up. This is an indication of a recent high BOD swing.

We recommended they decrease wasting or increase bioaugmentation which they do occasionally when they cannot return enough in the RAS in order to increase the number of bacteria in the system an get the F/M ratio back in their desired range.

Here is another flagellate, similar to a Peranema and Euglena, but smaller

Peranema are unicellular organisms classified into the Kingdom Protista,

Euglenophyceae: Heteronematales
Euglenida: Heteronematina
Peranema

Would you like to see more of the first Mystery Bug- videos and photos

Want to see more of the Mystery Bug- videos and photos

Mystery Bug 9-04 Mystery Filament of the Month 9-04 Mystery Filament of the Month 10-04

Mystery Bug 10-04 Mystery Bug-11-04 Mystery Bug-12-04 Mystery Bug-1-05

Mystery Bug-2-05 Mystery Bug-3-05 Mystery Bug-4-05 Mystery Bug-5-05

Mystery Bug-6-05 Mystery Bug-7-05 Mystery Bug-8-05

Mystery Bug-9-05 Mystery Bug-10-05 Mystery Bug-11-05 Mystery Bug-12-05

Mystery Bug 1-06 Mystery Bug 2-06 Mystery Bug 3-06

Mystery Bug 4-06   Mystery Bug 5-06 Mystery Bug 6-06

Mystery Bug 8-06 II   Mystery Bug 9-06 II Mystery Bug 10-06

Mystery Bug 11-06    Mystery Bug 12-06 Mystery Bug 1-07 and links to all of 2007

Stay tuned each month

More to come soon!

Enlargements: If you liked these pictures and want to see additional microorganisms check out the pages below.

Amoeba

Flagellates

Free Swimming Ciliates

Eating under the microscope- Dinner time!

What if you do not have a lab or microscope onsite that is capable of performing an analyses of your system?

Find out how Environmental Leverage's lab can perform an analyses of your biomass in your system and make recommendation on how to improve your system.

Wastewater Biomass Analyses

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