This is definitely the biggest Gastrotrich I’ve found yet!! It was the first time I could see his little eyes 馃ズ and I always love me a small round mouth 馃槸 I’ve decided to call this cute one Juliette. Doesn’t mean you’ve got a hairy belly that you’re a guy 馃檮 c’mon!!
Juliette is colorless, has a flat belly and a hairy body! The flattened tummy is covered in rows of small cilia allowing Juliette to move and glide on different surfaces. Juliettes are found in semiterrestrial and freshwater ecosystems all over the world in surface sediments and among vegetation. They’re especially easy to find in lakes, ponds and wetlands.
Gastrotrichs are still poorly known even if they’re one of the most abundant group of freshwater invertebrates with rotifers and nematodes. They’re multicellular organisms and have around 1000 cells. They possess a digestive system with a mouth and an anus, a muscular system, a small brain with two lobes and a reproductive system. They usually feed on algae, bacteria, protozoans, detritus and small inorganic food particles.
Juliettes are super tough little animals, they can survive months without oxygen at the bottom of ponds and lakes! Soooo not only tardigrades are tough animals 馃憖
Awesome beat by @arithmetikmusiq thmetikmusiq 馃尶
Video taken with my iPhone mounted on my BA310E Motic microscope with an @ilabcam adapter 馃敩 @moticamericas
Reference:
Strayer, D. L., Hummon, W. D., & Hochberg, R. (2010). Gastrotricha. In Ecology and classification of North American freshwater invertebrates (pp. 163-172). Academic Press.
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