Adult Male Cyclops

One of the few adult male Cyclops I have seen in my aquarium. I think in nature, there are more males than females, but in my tank, the Gammarus have probably eaten them. I have seen and studied enough live specimens now to be able to spot the differences between male and female. The most obvious difference is a lack of egg tubes in the males, and they have larger front antenna, that they use for grasping the female during mating.

Unfortunately, this male was injured in the transfer from tank to the well slide, probably when the coverslip was put on. From the position, it looks like he might be turned sideways, so thicker than from top to bottom, and the weight of the coverslip cracked his shell. You can see his blood analog, the green bubbles, released into the water. Never a good sign. This did offer the opportunity to see the flow of his "blood" through spaces in the body that I have never seen before.

If you watch, right at about 5:45 in the recording, you will see food in his lower digestive track, the golden yellow colored area just forward of the where the twin tails branch out. In that you can see what he has been feeding on, and now I know where all the diatoms in my tank are going.)

If you have high speed cable and a fast computer, watch this video at 720p and either large, or even fullscreen. I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 to edit and export this footage in HD format, so it will hold together at higher resolutions.

Here's the video, rather long at 18:45 though.

1.

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really neat series, Mitch

Cool shots Mitch. Do you have any full body shots?

Thanks Dean and Kurt. I did not get any full body shots. The step from my low power 10x objective down to the 4x is is more than a step in power, it's a step down in image quality also. I suppose I could have cropped a 4x shot, but I was so busy getting the video set up and recording that I didn't think about it.

Unfortunately, when working with these small bugs on a wet slide, the water wants to either dry out so fast or it gets so polluted or oxygen starved that the bugs die or start squirming. Although I guess it wouldn't matter with this one, he got crushed by the coverglass anyway.

crazy! I really enjoyed #3! would also have liked a full body shot...

The clarity and detail you manage to show in these is amazing, Mitch! It's been fun to watch the progression from when you started.

Thanks Martin and Eric. You know, it was about 3 weeks ago that I was shown another way to make some adjustments to the lighting of the scope. Turns out, I was doing it wrong all along. As soon as I did it the new way, my images got like this, and better. And to top it all off, I have started using Premiere Pro CS5 for the videos and it's like night and day.

Martin, didn't even think to get a full body shot.

Great stuff, Mitch, they'll have to start a whole new section for this stuff -- Microscopography?

Thanks Tony. I wish some others would get scopes. Mine costs only half what a Canon 100 cost new. I did get a deal though, but they are still not as expensive as a good birding lens. LOL

Heh! My photo gear expenses have been on hold for three years or so, otherwise you'd have me looking at 'scopes!

I hear ya. Reducing expenses in this crappy economy are what convinced me to get rid of my car and buy a microscope to continue my photography in a new and different direction. Now I don't support big oil or the greedy insurance pigs and I'll still enjoy photography and the learning and sharing of it.

As to cars, my story is different but the end is the same! A beloved family member borrowed my nice Honda Accord and wrecked it, and my insurance policy didn't cover repairing/replacing the car, and I can't afford just to go buy another one...so, that began my Biking Photog adventure. Now, I just gotta get motivated to get out the door!