Does anyone recognize this organism? I'm leaning heavily toward plant (because of the parts that look like burrs around the center) or fungus (because of the hollow portions in the extensions). Context: with a middle school group, we took some local soil samples from the south bay (San Fransisco) area, mixed them with tap water, allowed the debris to settle, and then examined the liquid under the microscope. This particular sample came from an area with soil that was a bit on the sandy side, and the sample was collected simply by scooping some of the bare surface soil into a smallish plastic container (a 15 mL Falcon tube, if it matters to anyone). It's possible but unlikely that it came from the tap water, as we also examined plain tap water as a reference. The magnification is 40x at the lower resolution and 100x at the higher resolution. My apologies for the poor picture quality, but it's always a bit of a struggle to get good pictures through a microscope using a phone camera. Would love to be able to go back to my middle schoolers and tell them what we found, if that's at all possible! They were so excited to examine it!
by tessalation14
5 Comments
I think it’s some kind of trichome (little hair-like or spine-like thingy made by plants and some other creatures for a variety of reasons). Some students in my department saw one on a slide of Precambrian rock and thought it was a fossil until they checked back and it was gone. It looked just like this.
Yeah, I think this is a fancy trichome (plant hair). That’s my best guess. I assume it wasn’t moving, right?
PS. I am also a science teacher in the SF Bay Area! Often when I sample pond water for my students, we end up with more terrestrial plant parts than actual aquatic organisms.
It’s a stellate trichome. A type of covering hair found on leaves of plants. Witch hazel (Hamamelis sp.) typically have them.
Those are great photos! Picture number 6 looks like an HR Giger painting.
Gives me T. Ocellus vibes. And, not in a good way.