Ostracoda

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I don't care if no one knows what i'm talking about.

OSTRACODA!! !!

I am so excited! I was out in my wonderfully overgrown garden last weekend (i'm terrible at keeping it clean and tidy) and I'd left a watering can out all winter. It's filled with rainwater. I took a quick gander in to see these tiny little things flapping about in the water. Obviously i'm curious! So i snap a pic (not the best because they are so small and always moving) and i ask about them on facebook. Responce was negative so decided i had to do my own research.

Seed shrimps!! !

I never even knew they were a thing!!

So, i've collected a few in a jar so i can watch them and study them at my own leisure ^_^

They're amazing!! I now need to know what they eat, what their lifespan is, the conditions they thrive best in, their purpose in the universe, what eats them... I love them!!

Ostracods are fascinating -- and they are just about everywhere.

There are different species of seed shrimp?

I have never heard of them or seen them before, ever! So i'm really surprised to be learning about them only now.

I tried to get some pics yesterday using my camera and a jewellers loupe, but they still came out crap :-/ I wish i had a decent microscope to get some proper pics of them! I have two kids microscopes, but since they've been sat gathering dust over god knows how many years, they're all dusty inside the lenses and not very good at all anymore

Some of the cheaper (say < £50) USB microscopes you can get are surprisingly good quality - I used to use them a lot at work for inspecting circuit boards etc. They make it so easy to take pictures or videos like the one Darmok posted, and no eye-strain from squinting down a tiny image circle.

I also have a little handheld field microscope that only cost about the same amount and is small enough to fit into a pocket. The cheap ones don't have the best optics in the world, but plenty good enough for watching the behaviour of little critters.

Well worth the price of a night out to the pub/movies/gig (and much more fun, IMHO!)

Cute little buggers.

Never heard of them before either. Are they the same thing as "rotifers"?

Anyway here is more about them.

I'm actually really glad that this thread was created. I like it when people pay attention to creatures that don't receive enough attention.

Most of the crustaceans that people know about are in the decapoda order. It's always nice when non-decapod crustaceans receive attention.

Personally, my favorite crustaceans are these weird extinct buggers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacocephala

I'm actually really glad that this thread was created. I like it when people pay attention to creatures that don't receive enough attention.

Most of the crustaceans that people know about are in the decapoda order. It's always nice when non-decapod crustaceans receive attention.

Personally, my favorite crustaceans are these weird extinct buggers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacocephala

They're very self sufficient creatures When i first scooped them into the jar, I had at least one adult, I now have two that i can definitely see, plus what appears to be about 5-7 tiny young ones

I love watching them scoot about I have put the jar on my windowsill as I heard that sunlight will help any algae create oxygen for them and also help to increase the algae that they like to feed from.

I'm also planning on making a small diy pond in the garden out of a bucket or something and i'm excited to see what I will find!!

^ Here's your little cleaning crew:

I find the diversity within crustacea to be absolutely dazzling.

Check out the diversity in isopoda alone.


^^^
I pity the simpletons who look at pictures like this and only see "a bunch of water bugs".