Nov 12 2007
Have you seen this plankton?
Almost a month since I’ve posted here, hard to believe it. Well, I did have a nice little contract to keep me busy week before last, with last week to recover. Tonight I worked some on the images from my improptu research project in August, which involved a home-made plankton net, an $80 microscope from the Discovery Store, and a Canon PowerShot S70. Oh and don’t forget A Guide To Marine Coastal Plankton and Marine Invertebrate Larvae, by DeBoyd L. Smith and Kevin B. Johnson.
My certainty level as to the identity of the critters I was able to photograph is definitely in the low range, but then my guide book has a lot of “unknown X,” where X is the probable family or genus. So I don’t feel so bad. This one’s probably a diatom, although it could be one of the annelids. I love the delicacy and grace of the cilia coming off the sides.
It was hard to decide which one to post as a preview. Guess I’ll just have to get my PhotoPress installation up and running sooner rather than later, so they can all be on view.