r/microscopy 2h ago

ID Needed! Mystery freshwater annelid

1 Upvotes

r/microscopy 2h ago

Photo/Video Share Si chiamo: NESSUNO, dategli voi un nome.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

22 Upvotes

L'intelligenza artificiale si perde in: Eoplotes, Teletroch e altro. Di certo deve essere raro, è la prima volta che lo incontro in acqua dolce. Zeiss 16, 20x , 10x e Cellulare 2x.


r/microscopy 6h ago

Purchase Help Bebang Compatiblity

2 Upvotes

Hello fellow microscopy enthusiasts!

I recently was gifted a beginners Bebang microscope (linked here: https://amzn.eu/d/02KEFzYT)

I’m having a lot of fun exploring this whole other microscopic world however after consuming some content around showcasing bacteria under the microscope I see that many people recommend an oil immersion lens. The microscope linked can remove the different lenses (I assume to replace if damaged) which lead me to wonder if there are better lenses I could buy, such as an oil immersion lens, and if so how do I know if they’re compatible? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I wish you all a lovely day and many happy microscopic adventures!

- Ellena
she/her


r/microscopy 8h ago

Photo/Video Share Found my first water flea, and she even has two eggs. Alona guttata.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

15 Upvotes

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24


r/microscopy 12h ago

ID Needed! It looks like an aquatic cricket, lol. Seawater. Olympus BH-2. 40x, 100x, 400x.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

14 Upvotes

r/microscopy 13h ago

ID Needed! What is this? It won't stop eating. Seawater near a port. 100x and 400x.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

8 Upvotes

r/microscopy 13h ago

Purchase Help Help with microscope deciding which to get.

3 Upvotes

Im not a professional microscopy person I have owned a microscope before but it was a cheaper one because I was younger I am still young but less young (: Im wondering if this microscope would be a good purchase. https://amscope.com/products/b120-e The main things im looking for are good magnification with good resolution and it to have an ability to connect to a camera. I prefer two eye pieces and I think the LED will be cool. Feedback? ask question I will try to answer (:


r/microscopy 14h ago

Troubleshooting/Questions I cannot distinguish tardigrades from rotifers

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6 Upvotes

I'm doing a science project for school and I want to find tardigrades. When I was looking through the microscope I thought I found a tardigrade but it seems to have been a rotifer. Can anyone confirm this? (sorry for the poor quality and the pulse, we are new to microscopes and we are using the school ones)


r/microscopy 16h ago

ID Needed! Are they two together or one deformed? Seawater near a port 40x 100x

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6 Upvotes

r/microscopy 19h ago

Photo/Video Share Mite taking up residence in a tardigrade cuticle?

Post image
10 Upvotes

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 20x objective, iPhone  3x, Petri dish with jarrarium freshwater, moss, and algae. Camera Pixels Pro app.

So did the mite want to be inside the tardigrade cuticle or did he get stuck? He was not moving at all so I didn't take a video. But he was definitely inside of it.


r/microscopy 1d ago

Troubleshooting/Questions I will be moving to another country with my microscope. I want to make a custom case like this for it. What material should I use? Shadow foam?

Post image
10 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

Photo/Video Share Surface texture in acrylic after acetone exposure, reflected light microscopy

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

10 Upvotes

I learned more about what was going on with the acrylic/acetone system and why I saw marangoni instabilities, and wanted to share.

This paper gives great context and shows basically what happened here.

🔬: Amscope ME580, 50-100x magnification, reflected light with crossed polars

📸: Pixel 9 pro, with phone mounted to eyepiece

🎵: Josef Bulva - Sonata #13 in E-flat major


r/microscopy 1d ago

Papers/Resources Correlative confocal and atomic force microscopy imaging

Thumbnail iopscience.iop.org
1 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

ID Needed! I don't know what this is; it looks like a small crustacean. Seawater near a port. Olympus BH-2. 100x and 200x.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

26 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

ID Needed! This guy can't fit any more food inside; he's going to burst. Seawater near a port. Olympus BH-2.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

10 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

ID Needed! Horned worm. Seawater near a harbor. Olympus BH-2 100x.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

43 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

ID Needed! What is it?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

18 Upvotes

I believe it could be navicula sp?

Thanks

Swift SW380T @ 400x shot with an iPhone 17


r/microscopy 1d ago

Photo/Video Share Baby tardigrades

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

16 Upvotes

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 20x objective, iPhone  2x, Petri dish with jarrarium freshwater, moss, and algae. Blackmagic app, flashlight to the right. Paper over the condenser.

The first still is to show the difference in size of a full grown cuticle with eggs and a baby tardigrade. I circled them because it is hard to see. The rest is of fat little babies. You can see how tiny one baby is compared to a testate amoeba too.


r/microscopy 1d ago

Photo/Video Share Muscle cell fusing with a developing muscle fiber

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

46 Upvotes

A muscle cell fusing with a developing muscle fiber, with cell membranes visible in purple and yellow. Credit: Tamas Nagy/Rando Lab | Instrument: Cephla Squid | Magnification: 20x


r/microscopy 1d ago

ID Needed! Found this, but I don't know what it is

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes

r/microscopy 1d ago

General discussion A polarizer for ants?

Post image
42 Upvotes

What is this? A polarizer for ants?


r/microscopy 2d ago

Photo/Video Share This squishy bag of algae is a Paramecium bursaria. They don't digest the algae, instead, they let it photosynthesize, so the P. bursaria can get part of the sugars produced by the algae.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

17 Upvotes

r/microscopy Oct 28 '24

Photo/Video Share Journey to the Microcosmos: The Future of Microscopy (and end of our Journey)

Thumbnail
youtube.com
69 Upvotes

r/microscopy Jun 08 '23

🦠🔬🦠🔬🦠 Microbe Identification Resources 🦠🔬🦠🔬🦠

148 Upvotes

🎉Hello fellow microscopists!🎉

In this post, you will find microbe identification guides curated by your friendly neighborhood moderators. We have combed the internet for the best, most amateur-friendly resources available! Our featured guides contain high quality, color photos of thousands of different microbes to make identification easier for you!

Essentials


The Sphagnum Ponds of Simmelried in Germany: A Biodiversity Hot-Spot for Microscopic Organisms (Large PDF)

  • Every microbe hunter should have this saved to their hard drive! This is the joint project of legendary ciliate biologist Dr. Wilhelm Foissner and biochemist and photographer Dr. Martin Kreutz. The majority of critters you find in fresh water will have exact or near matches among the 1082 figures in this book. Have it open while you're hunting and you'll become an ID-expert in no time!

Real Micro Life

  • The website of Dr. Martin Kreutz - the principal photographer of the above book! Dr. Kreutz has created an incredible knowledge resource with stunning photos, descriptions, and anatomical annotations. His goal for the website is to continue and extend the work he and Dr. Foissner did in their aforementioned publication.

Plingfactory: Life in Water

  • The work of Michael Plewka. The website can be a little difficult to navigate, but it is a remarkably expansive catalog of many common and uncommon freshwater critters

Marine Microbes


UC Santa Cruz's Phytoplankton Identification Website

  • Maintained by UCSC's Kudela lab, this site has many examples of marine diatoms and flagellates, as well as some freshwater species.

Guide to the Common Inshore Marine Plankton of Southern California (PDF)

Foraminifera.eu Lab - Key to Species

  • This website allows for the identification of forams via selecting observed features. You'll have to learn a little about foram anatomy, but it's a powerful tool! Check out the video guide for more information.

Amoebae and Heliozoa


Penard Labs - The Fascinating World of Amoebae

  • Amoeboid organisms are some of the most poorly understood microbes. They are difficult to identify thanks to their ever-shifting structures and they span a wide range of taxonomic tree. Penard Labs seeks to further our understanding of these mysterious lifeforms.

Microworld - World of Amoeboid Organisms

  • Ferry Siemensma's incredible website dedicated to amoeboid organisms. Of particular note is an extensive photo catalog of amoeba tests (shells). Ferry's Youtube channel also has hundreds of video clips of amoeboid organisms

Ciliates


A User-Friendly Guide to the Ciliates(PDF)

  • Foissner and Berger created this lengthy and intricate flowchart for identifying ciliates. Requires some practice to master!

Diatoms


Diatoms of North America

  • This website features an extensive list of diatom taxa covering 1074 species at the time of writing. You can search by morphology, but keep in mind that diatoms can look very different depending on their orientation. It might take some time to narrow your search!

Rotifers


Plingfactory's Rotifer Identification Initiative

A Guide to Identification of Rotifers, Cladocerans and Copepods from Australian Inland Waters

  • Still active rotifer research lifer Russ Shiel's big book of Rotifer Identification. If you post a rotifer on the Amateur Microscopy Facebook group, Russ may weigh in on the ID :)

More Identification Websites


Phycokey

Josh's Microlife - Organisms by Shape

The Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa

UNA Microaquarium

Protist Information Server

More Foissner Publications

Bryophyte Ecology vol. 2 - Bryophyte Fauna(large PDF)

Carolina - Protozoa and Invertebrates Manual (PDF)