Colonial Rotifer

[micron]

Came across a "bloom" of colonial rotifers (anyone hazard a guess as to genus and species?). The colonies are quite large and are easily seen by the naked eye (about 4mm in diameter). I have posted a pic of a colony taken with the M420 (flash) and a close-up using the Photomic.



Nikon Coolpix 4500
Zeiss Photomicroscope II
Leitz Periplan 10x/18 (519488)
Nikon CFN Planapo 4x/0.20
Zeiss achromatic-aplanatic VZ NA 1.4 phase condenser
Electronic flash – darkfield (phase 2 ring)
Paint Shop Pro 7.0 – auto contrast

[Ken Ramos]

You know Wim might have an idea as to the species of these. I know he has some images of different rotifer species but I am not sure about this one.

Some interesting images I must say Ron, I don't know how it is that you guys come across such amazing rotifer images and all I can muster up is the usual run of the mill species with the "little wheels" spinning around. Very nice indeed Ron, lets hope that Wim may have some idea. Thanks for the post.

[Charles Krebs]

Hi Ron... something in the family Conochilidae. But that's as far as I can go.

[micron]

Charlie I think you have the nailed it. A pic of C. hippocrepis in "Freshwater Microscopy" (Garnett) looks very much like the colonies in my sample.

[Wim van Egmond]

That is a nice set of images, Ron!

It is a Conochilus. For the identification of the spcies you can look at the antennae. This is a useful site:

http://cfb.unh.edu/CFBkey/html/choices/ ... 21/21.html

You guys make me sound like a specialist, which I am not

Wim

[micron]

Thanks Wim - I squashed a colony and had a look using a 16x. None of the rotifers appeared to have an antennae (the compression may have prevented me from seeing them). This species has a thicker abdomen then the species in the link. Here is another pic with the 16x.

[Ken Ramos]

Wow Ron, those are some big rotifers. Nice shot!!