Our rocky intertidal field trip at Carmel Point, CA on April 12, 2016
Hi everyone! My name is Cherisa and I am a graduate student in the Applied Marine and Watershed Science program at California State University Monterey Bay! Each student in my program was lucky enough to receive a foldscope to take with us out into the field to view some pretty neat things up close and personal. After eagerly building my foldscope (which was really easy!), I knew I couldn’t wait to see what kind of amazing things I would discover under the lens.
We recently took a trip to a rocky shore habitat, and boy did I see some amazing creatures! I am originally from Massachusetts, so some of these species were brand new to me, like the bat star in the abalone shell I am holding above. I found lots of plants and animals hiding within the rocks, but I couldn’t wait to see what else I would discover with my foldscope back in the classroom.

I collected some seaweed and some seawater in a test tube to bring back to the classroom with me so I could investigate things a little further. Like a good naturalist, I made sure just to take floating samples and not pluck anything growing so that I wasn’t being destructive in somebody else’s home. I had a piece of iridescent algae and some scouring pad algae that I thought would look just beautiful under the scope.

Larissa is looking at some samples of her own and helping me with my foldscope.
When I had first built my foldscope, I had some trouble seeing anything and got discouraged. However, soon I started hearing in class about all the neat things people were discovering I knew I had to try again. I gathered some friends from my class who could help, like my friend Larissa, and was ready to try again.

I looked at my piece of iridescent algae first, but it just looked like a big blob of brown through the lens, and it was difficult to tell what I was looking at. As I pulled out my next piece of seaweed, a tiny amphipod fell out and onto the table, legs wriggling and all! I knew this was my chance.
The exoskeleton of an amphipod
The first thing I saw was a piece of its body. Amphipods are in the phylum Arthropoda, which in Greek means “joint” and “foot”. Arthropods have segmented bodies, and tough outer layers called exoskeletons, meaning their bones are on the outside. Check out this guy’s exoskeleton!


I couldn’t believe the amazing detail I was seeing through my tiny lens. I could actually see all of the segments and how they fit together to make up its body. This was cool, but I wanted to find its head. After some careful adjustments of my slide, I managed to get the lens lined up over the head of the creature.

The compound eye is crystal clear under my foldscope!

Check out its eye!!! This was the best part. I could see all the little pieces with amazing detail. Amphipods have compound eyes like house flies which means they have thousands of individual lens units that allow it to have a wide angle of vision. This kind of eye is good for detecting fast movement, which I imagine is important for such a little guy to see predators coming.

The more time I spent practicing with my foldscope, the better I got at capturing the incredible detail my organism had to offer. It didn’t take long for me to see why this foldscope is such a revolutionary invention and why it is already under such high demand. It is truly an amazing way to discover the wonders our world has to offer and since it is about the size of a granola bar and easily contained in a shirt pocket, I know the next time I leave for an adventure, my foldscope will be by my side!