Don't know a thing about such stuff, but I had to comment on your excellent & fascinating photography!
Unknown Freshwater Hydrozoa, What is it?
4
A person I know has an infestation of a freshwater Hydrozoan. I took some of it and photographed it at work under magnification.
My first impression was that it is a Hydra, but I have never seen Hydra growing on a long thread almost like Utricularia gibba. This organism is white, eats baby brine shrimp, multiplies readily from broken pieces.
The individual tentacles are not spaced around a mouth like a Hydra. They are attached to a bulb like structure at the end of each branch.
I did not photograph a scale and did not have a way to insert a scale bar in the photo, so it will be hard to know the actual size of the organism. I'd have to say the width of the stalk might be 0.010" or 0.25 mm. The fully extended tentacles are about 1/4 to 3/8" around, with each tentacle about the size of a hair or smaller.
Fully contracted at 15 X
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Bulb like structure expanding at 40 X
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Bulb like structure fully opened at 20 X
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Whole organism fully opened at 8 X
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Does anyone know what this is? Do you have a genus or even species for it?
My first impression was that it is a Hydra, but I have never seen Hydra growing on a long thread almost like Utricularia gibba. This organism is white, eats baby brine shrimp, multiplies readily from broken pieces.
The individual tentacles are not spaced around a mouth like a Hydra. They are attached to a bulb like structure at the end of each branch.
I did not photograph a scale and did not have a way to insert a scale bar in the photo, so it will be hard to know the actual size of the organism. I'd have to say the width of the stalk might be 0.010" or 0.25 mm. The fully extended tentacles are about 1/4 to 3/8" around, with each tentacle about the size of a hair or smaller.
Fully contracted at 15 X
Bulb like structure expanding at 40 X
Bulb like structure fully opened at 20 X
Whole organism fully opened at 8 X
Does anyone know what this is? Do you have a genus or even species for it?
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