Tumblin' Tardigrade

After a long hiatus, largely precipitated by a long winter on the Gulf Coast and a longer summer spent in search of big fish, I've finally run into some poor weather.  Time to pull out the microscope but what to look for? At 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the water in the bird bath didn't yield anything interesting except for a number of small amoebae...moving really s-l-o-w-l-y. Pretty boring but suddenly inspiration struck. I was going big game hunting for bear.

It was off to the wood lot beside my home where various species of moss and lichen attach themselves to the scrub oak. I sampled a number of sites and brought home at least 4 species of moss and the same number of lichens. Most stayed in a big jar for drying and a source of samples when the waters freeze but a few small chunks were put into a petrie dish and soaked with distilled water. After a few hours I squeezed each moss sample and pulled a drop off with a pipette. My first look under the scope revealed a little water bear. Not sure of the species but here is a short video.