The common experience of all microscopists confirms the assertion made by Dr. Goring, that the most fascinating objects are living creatures of sufficient dimensions to be easily understood with moderate magnification ; and in no way can objects of this description be so readily obtained, as by devoting an occasional hour to the examination of the little ponds which are accessible from almost any situation.
The above quotation is from Marvels of Pond-Life by Henry J Slack F.G.S., second edition published in 1871.
In the same drop of water as the rotifer shown a few days ago was this almost transparent blob which appears to be an amoeba. The video was tinted to show it up better. No sound track this time.
This is a single cell creature with a nucleus (the dark dot) contained in a membrane. It captures its food by changing the shape of its membrane, surrounding and assimilating it. An activity I haven't managed to see as yet.
I count myself lucky to have spotted it. I have examined various drops of water over the past few years without seeing one. Optical magnification was around 400x.
The amoeba was one of the first topics we did in the fist year of biology at secondary school, all those years ago. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteDave: Similar here. The science teacher, Mr. Charlton, would say, "The shape of an amoeba is amorphous, just like me."
DeleteI too had a bio;ogy master who stained these red for us. He was a grand bloke but didn't last long as he ran off with a trainee maths teacher.
ReplyDeleteAdrian: I've been researching info about staining specimens.
DeleteA whole world in a drop of water.
ReplyDeleteWilma: I never know what will make an appearance next.
DeleteWhat a wonderful video - thanks so much for sharing. I would imagine you are very pleased with the microscope :) Can remember studying amoeba for "O" level biology!!
ReplyDeleteRR: Thank you. I think this microscope is excellent value for money at the price. Not perfect, like the table has some play when changing direction (up or down) and the objective lenses aren't standard fitting so I can't use any from my old microscope on it. But on the whole they are minor niggles easily overcome with a bit of patience and practice. Life would would be very boring if everything worked perfectly every time ;)
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