Plasmodial Slime Mould

Post your images made through a compound microscope or made with a stereo/dissecting microscope in this gallery. Images may be of any subject natural or unnatural, living or non-living.

Moderators: MacroMike, nzmacro, Ken Ramos, twebster, S. Alden

Locked
User avatar
Ken Ramos
Site Admin
Posts: 4809
Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 7:58 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Plasmodial Slime Mould

Post by Ken Ramos »

Sometime back, several months or so, I made claim that I would post the largest amoeba to be seen in this forum. Maybe, note I said maybe, I have come across that amoeba. :D

Humidity is high at this time in the mountains here and we are getting a lot of moisture up from the gulf. I suppose that maybe inpart due to the isothermal boundry layer we have here but I am no meteorologist. Anyway it has been hot, humid, and rainy around here and I took off to the forests to see what all is decaying and ran across quite by accident this plasmodium. I was somewhat disappointed when I finally got it home for study and photographing. I drove 25mi. for this thing, 50mi round trip :? It seems that it lost a good bit of its color and density. I should have known that, like a lot of protists, it would be quite fragile. :(

Image

Plasmodium on decaying wood 10X
Sony DSC-W5 1mgp(fine)
Program mode
Zeiss Vario Tessar Lens
1/10 sec. @ F/2.8 ISO 100 EV -0.3
Meiji EMZ-13TR
Duel Pipe Fiber Optic Halogen @ 75W
Post Process: Photo Impact 6
(Pardon the "shotgun" image but I think it fits :) )

The plasmodium is made up of thousands, if not more of, ameobo-flagellates. Combined they make up a very large multinucleate amoeba or Myxoamoeba. After photographing the plasmodium using the Meiji, I then again required its use in taking a sample from the plasmodium for observation using the Axiostar. I had hopes of capturing a multitude of amoebo-flagellates to confirm my suspicions but as you can see that was not the case. As a matter of fact this plasmodium measuring 27mm at the longest side is what could be the amoeba and the lipids, fats, and other cell inclusions can be seen oozing from the piece of the ruptured membrane.

Image

Plasmodium section, slide prep. in distilled water, 200x w/coverslip
Sony DSC-P200 1mgp(fine)
Program mode
Zeiss Vario Tessar Lens
1/40 sec. @ F/2.8 ISO 100
Zeiss Axiostar
Zeiss 20X/0.45 A-Plan
Post Processing: Photo Impact 6


I have not studied Myxomycetes extensively but only enough to be quite in error of things if not careful and my observations here maybe wrong. So I will still not lay claim to having found the largest of the amoeba yet, but I think I am pretty darn close. :wink:

OBTW, some plasmodiums can be as large as several feet in size/length, from what I have read. Now that is one big amoeba :shock:
Site Admin.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

Charles Krebs
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:50 am
Location: Issaquah, WA USA

Post by Charles Krebs »

A lot of "new" names and things for me in this post Ken... it'll keep me "Googling" for a while. You're getting nice results using the Meiji.

User avatar
Ken Ramos
Site Admin
Posts: 4809
Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 7:58 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Post by Ken Ramos »

Thanks Charlie. :D Yeah the Meiji is one great scope, I have been thoroughly enjoying it. I have outfitted both my scopes with Sony cameras and they are great. Thanks again. 8)
Site Admin.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.

Locked