Halacaroidea marine mite (photomicrography)

[X_Digger]

This is a rather rare find for me- most of the critters I find in my sand are crustaceans of one family or another. This one is a true mite, an arachnid.

(View full-screen and check the upper left.)

[alfredo]

1. Looks like it lost a leg somewhere.

[X_Digger]

2. That was probably my fault.

I had to scoop up sand into a small container, drop it spoonful by spoonful into a petri dish. I checked it out under one microscope, then once I saw the critter, use a probe and tweezers to get the grain of sand he was currently attached to into a different slide. Then I used a pipette to 'knock' him off the grain of sand so that I could put a cover slip on the slide.

[alfredo]

3. I'm sure he holds no grudge.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Don't bet on it.

I would definitely be pissed.

[alfredo]

7. Their attention span that long. Must not be over 50.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Very cool.

It is always a pleasure to find something rare or new that you haven't found in the past. I don't know how you could tell the difference without the high magnification. And I assume that you already knew before you went through all that trouble.

[X_Digger]

6. After watching a lot of ostracods, you get a feel for how they move.

Think a clam with legs. Or at least how you imagine a clam with legs would move.

[X_Digger]

8. One more mite shot..

Found another one today and I got a better shot of the dorsal side.