Identification: Water fleas? Ciliate?

Sep 29, 2019 • 11:11 AM UTC

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MananSuri

My name is Manan. I am a student from New Delhi, India. I like to explore the world around me, and foldscope acts like a gateway for me to delve into the microcosmos. Always open to learning new things, meeting new people and and having new memories.

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I have been exploring the ecosystem of an artificial local pond. I’m coming across so many samples and it is so wonderful: to look at so many things you didn’t expect, and equally wonderful is the enigma of what are these things?
And that is why I’ve done so many posts seeking identification, as I want to confirm if I’ve got it right or know more about what I’ve seen!
So, the first is an organism which I suspect to be a water flea.
These fleas were visible through naked eyes as well, and they had kind of a random galloping motion at the bottom of the jar (the top was flushed with algae).

I then used the paper well slide to pick up one of these critters and observe it under a foldscope:

And voila, I could observe it eating some gunk. It was immobilised, because of the thickness of the slide. I could observe distinct mouth parts, leg like parts, antennae like parts, compound eyes and a whole range of internal body organs (which I cant identify).

It also seems to have small hair like structures on its body like cilia perhaps.
I projected it on a wall, and goofed around a bit!

Make for a creepy yet fun photoshoot ! The next organism i’m confused about is a ciliate. I mainly want to know what species it is!
It has a quick jerky rolling motion at times, which makes it difficult to photograph and focus.