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Mystery Bug of the Month

June-05

Cannibals from the Depths below. . . . .

OK, well they are not really from oceans below or under the sea, in reality these little critters were found in a wastewater Aeration Lagoon at a papermill. What surprised me is how the other higher life forms, especially the small free swimming ciliates, were like sharks or vultures. There could sense the rotifer was under stress ( he was getting smashed by the pressure from the slide) and they were waiting to attack!! The more the rotifer was stressed, higher volumes of free swimming ciliates showed up. It was amazing and a weird experience to watch . . . ..

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. Some photos of the ciliates were taken at 1000x.

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

1000x Bright Field Above is one of the free swimming ciliates close up They look pretty harmless, hard to imagine all that damage or that sophistication to sense trouble, and all come together in such a feeding frenzy! You never know what you will find under the microscope. . . .1000x	ok, here is our Rotifer at the beginning of this photo session- 40x bright field,
400x Even the baby ciliates want to get in on the action	The cilates have very distinct lines and outer hairs 400x
400x	100x Rotifer, floc structures and 3 ciliates attacking him
1000x feeding
Here there are only 2 free swimmers near the rotifer	ok, the attackers arrive onsite and sense trouble
These were definately scavengers	they start the attack- rotifer still intact, and has outer shell for some protection
They attack from both ends, just a handful at first here the rotifer foot is moving	More and more come
Already moving inside the hard shell of the rotifer to finish it off	One completely inside and two more on the outside 1000x
	One completely inside and three more on the outside 400x
The free swimmer is bound and determined to push it's way inside
The free swimming ciliates start attacking on the sides also- this was a completely different rotifer from the same sample the next day	Poor Rotifer, he is still very much alive and moving at this point
tons are feeding on this one	More come in for the kill at lower power magnification
Dozens of free swimming ciliates gathered at the rotifer Remember, this is all in one drop of water on a slide under the microscope !!!	1000x Bright Field Above are photomicrographs of the free swimming ciliates close up They look pretty harmless, hard to imagine all that damage or that sophistication to sense trouble, and for them all to come together in such a feeding frenzy! You never know what you will find under the microscope. . . .

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 1-07 and links to all of 2007 Mystery Bugs pages

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.

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