Some video photomicrography

[X_Digger]

I collected some samples of sand from my marine aquarium, here are some of the interesting critters I found.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Always more fascinating, IMO, than megafauna.

What was the equipment that you used to record these?

[X_Digger]

2. I have a couple of cameras that fit in the upper tube on a microscope

They're connected to a pc that I keep down in the cabinet below.

These videos are from the dissecting microscope on the right. Max magnification is about 75x on that one.

[NYC_SKP]

3. I wanna remodel MY kitchen now!

I've had a couple of cheap PC-friendly handheld and desktop student-grade crapola scopes.

And I've got a great 10.5 - 45 X Leica stereomicroscope, but no video connection for it.

I wonder if I can find an eyepiece adapter?

[X_Digger]

4. Nice! These cameras can fit in place of a regular eyepiece.

If I recall correctly, the Leica uses standard eyepieces, so you should be able to pull one and replace it with the camera.

Of course you'd lose that eyepiece for viewing while taking pics, but if you're taking pics of static things, it's not that big a deal to swap em out.

I have this 1957 Leitz Wetlar that I've done that with-

[NYC_SKP]

5. Thank you very kindly!

My unit predates modern digital videography, but it's so nice to know that eyepieces had a universal quality.

I'll have to look into it!

[alfredo]

6. Very good. Ever thought of setting up a webcam?

[X_Digger]

7. Heh.. how about two?

http://rowelab.com/fish/camera/fugecam.php

Click 'switch camera' at the top to change views.

These are just celestron USB microscopes, no more than about 40x power.

Best viewing is during the day.

[alfredo]

8. Thanks. I like watching critters,

[X_Digger]

9. You'll see a lot of isopods, ostracods, and harpactid copepods, then.

Occasionally you'll see a dorvellid worm, acoel flatworms, or another unidentified polychaete worm with long, flexible setae.

There are also chaeopterid worms who make a burrow from mucous and sand particles- you'll occasionally see one of their detritus catching tentacles wandering the frame like a flopping rope.

[alfredo]

10. I saw one of the tentacles this morning.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. All that chasing them around....

you tired me out. I know the frustration of trying to keep up with some of these critters.

Fun to watch.

[X_Digger]

12. Well, the video plays at a different speed than it was captured at..

so it looks kind of fast.

Here's another one- I *think* I found something I haven't seen before. I originally thought it was another ostracod, but..

An invert biologist friend of mine thinks it's actually a marine mite.

[Curmudgeoness]

13. OMG, it is so odd to watch this instead of do it yourself.

I was moving my mouse around trying to control the movements. LOL

I am certainly no expert, but these two specimens seemed to be the same thing to me. They acted the same way, and a few of the views looked like the same thing in both samples. It must be great to have an invertebrate biologist to run things by.

[X_Digger]

14. Yeah, the second one is just a clip of the first, focusing on that one section.

I'd seen what I thought were very small, not-quite-typical ostracods before. (Most ostracod shells are pointed ovoid, or rounded ovoid in shape, bilaterally symmetrical from the side. These were larger toward the posterior end, with an almost teardrop shape at the 'head' end.

My invert biologist buddy is just a facebook friend who I do IT work for when he gets frustrated (he's a mac guy.) I help him set up his wireless network, or a webcam for his tank, he lets me pester him with 'Ooh, whassat!??' questions.

Unfortunately, there's no "Bob's Big Book of Marine Critters" reference title for invertebrates; it's all broken down by family and sometimes even by geography. You'll get "Guide to the Marine Isopod Crustaceans of the Caribbean" by Kensley and Schotte, which is a tiny slice of a tiny slice. I believe it'd take a stack of books about waist high to cover everything.

*headdesk*

[X_Digger]

15. One more video..