The ususal reaction I get from my students when they see this creature in the microscope is, "Ewwww, a worm!" This is an annelid, or an aquatic earthworm. In a clearer photo the rings would be visible. It also has hair-like projections called setae (just barely visible on its sides), they help the worm move more easily through the water. The worm's digestive tract is easily seen in this photo taken at 10X.
Green algae and diatoms
- a ciliated protozoan 200X magnification These microscopic, single-celled organisms (they are not "bugs" or animals!) are fun to observe through a microscope. Vorticella are stalked, ciliated protozoa. The bell-shaped part of the cell has a ring of cilia, tiny hairlike structures that wave back and forth to pull in any edible particles in the water. When the cells are stimulated in a negative manner (like when I put them under a projection microscope with a hot, bright light!) the stalk coils like a spring, they spin and pull down toward the substrate to which they are attached. They appear to bounce or pop up and down. The thin, thread-like stalks are just barely visible on some of the cells in this photo. A Vorticella spins around like a vortex or small tornado, probably the origin of the "vorti" part of its name. These cells are attached to a green alga strand. I often see the attached to leaflets of Milfoil and even small aquatic snail shells.
