So here's some Difflugia-like amoebozoan. They're amoebae which ingest and secrete random particles to make a test. (sometimes, those can even be diatom valves!)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxqQ7UVD3dvvaNiykOD_VJEkE2U4zea5XnQUTzZ0ffSadlOOeUy4c1G75gU2R54GPEhkAJHbdWl9yzWIvUq0ouMoO82utfnWj5AfhkZQ6ORnMKjbwq79nwT42YpGBVKAtsSgyTr8g7Zb_/s400/Doc_53883-1.jpg)
A random amoeba. Don't expect me to ID amoebae... especially with shitty lightning! (still sore about that, yes!)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacsRCSQClbgNtv7xSSS3rJgVtAf7Nd78U6jCytuiXXZF1eWDxnobgds4Oc8BcantUrJjmACu-WswHoqwryeATV-MS9jEQxwjDR_g2gouTKGUmg9mIj22w4V2FC05APAtXWicu3w5npvBu/s400/Doc_53880-1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfTozQfS1tJq8zkEcGkO_nBmzS-H7SKTBSgUAdDvPwHbqSJR2WEYfVIdv5T44cJ6WJ4aeZBid3YjgwZ8Mg2sDoo58_aNv659LcSefF3vfwKiUDLIBDnxGESnZigVyT9ZjkUrm1oIvPZFu/s400/Doc_53879-1.jpg)
Then the slide was drying out, so I decided to add a drop of water.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_W2kfWdaZNVO5HlnuG03Sw1owIfBlUfysBfaS5TTlkDZusEwjj1aZibNHFPcGOOEZT2l_Nx0i_sC7D0X6RpfEv2x9qWGERciSx21B78TjJWA-rpnaMaq4fZV_mPvf5uuFyp0fCF10TJi9/s400/Doc_53890-1.jpg)
Everything stopped moving, and finally I got a shot of a euglenid (remember that our camera is painfully sloooow!) By stopped moving, I mean I could even get an awesome shot of a flagellum, and a badly deformed cell (another euglenid):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiet_T8pJeAOglFoGS6iZ2VHc167LKJIXDgjR7YFaje-vyYH6Ge87_MZwGwg6YKjNpMBR9n1W5Uodn42uD-NYrY9NJB7EwUukmwzE2-CT8Ny7kvA-F5OZuG3G70HaDPKWyi9Xs1b4ZTGZsC/s400/Doc_53881-1.jpg)
By now I was confused. I look at the water dropper - it's labelled 50% glycerol. Shit. Who knows what was actually in it, as it induced a diatom to blow up rather impressively:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOZVkcqrPUcOpCgAuNSmwDoxOt978b_9TQsqHyBWT5pohROHXwGFIQ97MPRMOieEmB_77p2Lm-nVoVp8vjn4eUUTKw5StQCLii9Meks22N3dJRLhL8QZpkBNvKJMWe9QDC6RciU2cOBun/s400/Montage_diatom.jpg)
Somehow I doubt glycerol is supposed to do that. Probably screwed up the osmotic pressure drastically - I'm guessing typically one uses ~10% glycerol to slow things down in microscopy? Anyone know? Plants don't need slowing, so the glycerol there is added to help match the refractive index more than anything else...
Made a fresh slide. First off, Difflugia-like amoeba in mitosis(? or not...do they redistribute test material during division?):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0LGCRRhpDuHRIAm5GVaH3aDp6V2sUB5eFKiDDTEsIaO3RsetD8XVFXSn1jaWVlwGRA6zSoePqes1TLQ3Um_kl3IC9tDeo1zDPywPo6YZUKvA5RPri4413G-tMksscZUOhTYcb5Ke-ZpR/s400/Doc_53895-1.jpg)
(REALLY sore about the shitty image quality - this would've been so amazing under proper DIC!!!)
Something vaguely looking like an Actinophryid... (although not as vacuolated as it should be, but who knows...)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtQknQXEmap-NSA4w0U112h-74kB_5JgEztFaHd2UdkZq1VoTg55kHlZKoSq8ze54w1pDGnX49T8gBMOvmutF3OMNiSGK-4o9LNPNDKAi4Facdk1yvwktCKCeMIZAKnm5M-jpf3y3-xx-/s400/Doc_53900-1.jpg)
And what appears to be an abandoned Bicosoecid lorica:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWr8VqIXdbdMkAZk0C71bZFKJ7LrGFIpWvYWpP8iV33dpDMdfdbYRgAfLCqTiwOGOy0BcTCRlfjLwRYZorM8_xXos_UqbOW2iQsu-kLzNBgzWmsrhOyQQM15TB9F1Q_CiWq8E_1ojaujRH/s400/Doc_53910-2.jpg)
And then I had an encounter with what appears to be a dividing ciliate!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C6PnCxOw3zF71AB1mEllVGA7-R81ZoXSWnZDipjvvMBCdJqJ5qGVP4ZklWMBLRT9tEtHYBmn8aPBxF5ZhesUBWnm2-X1rEQBG-Zd0giNI2T0SSypQGJm3Hcjs-qXTqiC-f8JKS-b8lB3/s400/Montage_div_ciliate.jpg)
Damn I want my DIC by this point. A ciliate in mitosis - how cool is that!? Grrrr! You could even see the oral ciliature! Can't wait to work on ciliate morphogenesis/development (if they're crazy enough to let me in, that is...)
Speaking of ciliates, the armoured Coleps:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZVN9jcut71cnSWmcOOn3Dwgp-ppwV00dn8zyVFqssIC80yl0PLygMtTOXxLUM8NEFp2bS_pieOlDqKjeloKjWROlNtHiz5UHuEduJ3aUdRCAZgd99olJJzXDGH_Lu9vjea17UIsol4SM6/s400/Montage._coleps.jpg)
A few random amoeboid things:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDi3G2XCIL5hwu5-zFL68xVxxKgpAO5O2qgwkBSJz8so8U97dEYfOkS_ASgRiIuzqwL7SCt1ff63bWkur8T3m6Xw4Xx7fg_YxAL2etfneVML5jAvuo5k4_KN2HWmlrELXpb3JbatehmFqL/s400/Amoebae01.jpg)
Random flagellates: (there were a lot of Cyclidium (ciliate)):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GXrjWQvVAns2tf5Cltzfy91lICHihFBIPQvRXcwovgUYKJ8M3CIE-j4F2hB99iRdjiTXko8JjSXB5rOiM1ElXZb1qYLoLkzDRDf4UBVqs8TZlsWP0Tr7VY_NUIvF-kvUk8K-IuF2LEQQ/s400/Random+flagellates.jpg)
And I really need to brush up on my euglenids!
Being beyond fed up with the lack of DIC, and knowing our scope is actually quite good, I finally twiddled my way to the problematic polariser. Suddenly, life was good again!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4sIQ-cfllvEWjlyCeTSmtugBV660TwuS8QGsZ319atPbjKa4xoORXfmZ5K7vBmk5eEl83495IECnoD-txoGnUtFSJFOuzkGDt6S_-9op0R_HHyw-O4vN2wpzUQ0TTTgte1LphH6FYqZ-f/s400/Doc_53932-1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4d8so37a6oPeRPe_alqUnqgJ-nRo7PWP5IttUenpj0nw4W8T0JnOGH5K6feOSBarJgdjlU7S2XFiEW0nu7TioMXsA5tFPF9iS-yHz90U0yE4XX3FrEPW6o-TonptLRRExnlSQMColXg2_/s400/Doc_53933-1.jpg)
"HOLY SHIT, IT ACTUALLY WORKS NAO!" I even allowed some blatant overexposure to creep in... >_>
So here my images actually started to suck less. And more cool stuff was seen. Now that we're all waiting in suspense for marginally acceptable microscopy, I'll call it a day here. Stay tuned for part 2.5: This time with DIC! ^_^
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