Water flea in dark-field illumination

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:26 am

While I have seen pictures of this species before, last night was the first time I have actually seen one "up close and personal". I noticed a small patch of odd looking "debris" floating on the top of a recent sample jar. Under the microscope it turned out to be a fairly large number of these water fleas, many just "born", and the adults obviously having just given "birth". This one still has a reticent "infant" still on board, but it appears that it recently had a rather large brood occupying most of the carapace (not much room left for the internal organs!).

10X objective, 2.5X photo-eyepiece. Canon 10D.

Kenv · Post by **Kenv** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:59 pm

Beautiful darkfield shot Charlie. I don't seem to see many of these little fellas, I must look a bit further afield.
Kenv

piotr · Post by **piotr** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 4:16 pm

Amazing resolution and perfect exposure. Very nice picture.

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 2:51 am

That is a nice image of Bosmina probably: longirostris, Charlie. They are quite common here in the waters near me. They often float on the surface after collecting, seems like they are having difficulty with the surface tention.

I am a bit silent because I'm trying to get the flash on my microscope working. It was not easy because first the flashtube burned (turned out to be the wrong type of tube for the rest of the flash unit) and because of that the whole flash unite was damaged beyond (cheap) repair. But now I borrowed a flash from a friend. Give me a couple of days and I'll post something new.

Wim

GreenLarry · Post by **GreenLarry** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:32 am

Neat image, i didnt notice the 'baby' at first!
Looks like a Bosmina.