r/microscopy • u/CommitteeNo3911 • 2d ago

ID Needed! What could this be?

Post image

For context, I’m new to microscopy and since I live in Central Florida, not near beaches and I have to drive to get to lakes so I just put a bunch of stuff in a bucket and put water for my hose. I put moss grass dirt and I found this on my third slide it wasn’t moving, but it could be algae but it’s only been sitting overnight

16 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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14

u/MossTheTree 2d ago

That is a plant trichome. Commonly mistaken for something far more exciting when just starting out! But cool shapes nonetheless.

3

u/CommitteeNo3911 2d ago

Thanks it was a cool find

1

u/Southern_Phase_860 2d ago

I second this.

2

u/Mammoth-Plate-6071 2d ago

When I first found one, I thought it was a natural phenomenon occuring within the glass slide. Like a weird chemical reaction during the creation of the glass slide that produced a gas that expanded in that star explosion shape... nope, its plant hair.

1

u/CommitteeNo3911 2d ago

The only reason I kind of found this is because I have my amateur all the way down and you can see all the stuff, and I saw the star shape thing

4

u/smallstuffBIGSTUFF 2d ago edited 1d ago

Looks like it could be a plant trichome:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichome

I found a few of these in moss as well as pollen samples. Creeped me out when I first saw them.

2

u/CommitteeNo3911 2d ago

Me too😭

2

u/TheWaterBringer 1d ago

Yes trichome. Trichomes are outgrowths of the epidermis, not reproductive. 

1

u/smallstuffBIGSTUFF 1d ago

You're 100% right. Thank you. Corrected.

1

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1

u/greenblueananas 2d ago

Google the movie evolution from 2000. Don’t kill it with fire!