Unidentified Microbes (Gastrotrichs?)

Unknown microbe hanging out in the algae. (100x magnification)

Update: I stumbled across this nice beginner’s guide to pond microbes that makes me thing these microbes are Gastrotrichs.

The Gastrotricha World portal has more information, as does the EOF and micrographia.

A video of a gastrotrich is down below.

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I’ve collected a set of aquatic plants for our fish tank for the middle school students to be able to look at their cells under the microscope. A few are from the store, like the Eregia densa I’ve used in the past, but we’ve also grabbed some algae from the creek, and Mr. Woodbury brought in some algae specifically for our two resident tadpoles.

I was checking out at the creek algae under the microscope when I came across these two microbes. They both were motile and seemed to be surrounded by cilia, but I really don’t know what they are.

Unknown microbe number 2 (100x magnification).