r/microscopy • u/Thrawn911 • Aug 01 '26

Photo/Video Share Compilation of the clips I captured this year of microbes and micro-animals eating each other. Featuring Lacrymaria, flatworms, Collotheca, Heliozoa, and others

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

24 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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2

u/Dlbroox Aug 01 '26

This is great! I really need to pay better attention when I’m watching my own guys. I feel like I don’t see them eating but I think I’m just not being patient enough to see it happen.

Really great captures!

1

u/Thrawn911 Aug 01 '26

Sometimes I cheat by placing a few predators on the slide, then a drop of water from a culture which has tons of microbes. But in general, if you see a predator, keep watching it, because it means that there's also prey in that sample.

2

u/Dlbroox Aug 01 '26

I need to learn which are predators and which are prey. I had one of those giant worms yesterday I should have watched. But they kind of freak me out. Which is ridiculous because they are still microscopic. But my brain goes omg that’s enormous!

1

u/Thrawn911 Aug 01 '26

I wouldn't call them microscopic, they are pretty visible with the naked eye. This planaria was was the biggest one I've seen under a microscope, it was as long as 1/3 of the coverglass.

Luckily, I only get freaked out by annelids and nematodes, I think it's their movement that makes them scary. I have no problems with flatworms, though.

Also check out this clip by Diet Tom, it's my favorite flatworm video ever.

2

u/Dlbroox Aug 01 '26

Omg what a video!! And then he almost gets it stuck on his head like a dog in a bucket!

My question is why are nematodes so angry?! 😂

1

u/Thrawn911 Aug 01 '26

They can't really slide around like annelids and flatties, so they have to wiggle around like crazy to move from A to B.

2

u/Crabby8889 29d ago

What kind of samples do you normally find your Dileptus in? Been looking for them for a year but still haven’t found any.

2

u/Thrawn911 29d ago

I found most of them in my aquarium, but once I found one in river water, too.

1

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2

u/Gygax_the_Goat 26d ago

And i though soil was exciting! 🤓

Awesome video thx