Identify This Critter!

Here is yet another identification contest. I am eventually looking for what genus this critter belongs to. If you guess correctly I will congratulate you and if you identify the genus I will send you a PM of recognition. :smiley: Magnification: 100X

Here is the Photo:

im005673small.jpg

ummmmmmm…

a bug?

Mossberg?

The critter on the moon? (the round part looks like our moon)

No, sorry try again!

P.S. The pic is not Photo Shopped.

Dont tell me your going to poke that…thing with that sharp needle and squrt its guts everywere!!!

a grass hopper?

Looks like a crawdad to me.

… or maybe a snail …?

a dust mite?

Tic

Congratulations; you’ve identified the correct group. This critter is a distant and much smaller relative of the crawdad. They are both crustaceans. Remember this critter is microscopic.

However, to what Genus does he belong?

it would have to be a very small one (magnification 100X).

I’m changing my guess from Mossberg to… plankton

To help people visualize the actual size, attached is the original picture sized to 1% (actual size). It’s a small speck.

critter_1x.jpg

No, it’s not plankton. However it is aquatic. Thanks for giving a perspective size.

copepod

Very close; however that isn’t what he is. A Copepod only has one eye; mine has two.

This is a Copepod(Cyclops):

copepod.jpg

ahhh … then it must be a shrimp

:smiley:

ahhh…

or a … squid :smiley:
(ahhh … :slight_smile: )

i say it might be a water flea, thats not there scientific name uhh i think it might be i think it may be in the diatoms group.

no no wait its not in the diatoms, im sticking with ym first geuss the water flea

Congratulations UniManiac!!! It is indeed a water flea (Daphnia)… Please look for your PM of recognition shortly :stuck_out_tongue:

BTW, how did you figure it out?