A pair of limnias rotifers

[Charles Krebs]

I was trying to organize my image files a bit when I came across this happy pair of limnias rotifers from last summer. Waiting for these two to line up their heads properly for a picture was a little like trying to get all the kids looking and smiling at the camera during a family reunion!

10X objective, 2.5X photo-eyepiece, Canon 10D. Darkfield illumination with electronic flash.

[Ken Ramos]

Beautiful image Charlie. I imagine it was painstaking waiting for them to line up. I have been studying an old zoology textbook, which references this rotifer as being Melicerta. However this book is copyrighted 1951 McGraw-Hill, the year I was born. Some of the info is still valid and some has changed but only slightly. The identfication of Melicerta was made in 1901. Seventeen different rotifers are presented in this book. The Pylum Ascheleminthes, Class Rotifera is what is referenced. Plenty of detailed drawingings in this old book.

As for your identification it is more than likely correct according to the knowledge of these organisms that has been aquired over the past century. I do not know a lot about Rotifers but they are interesting at times to observe.