The purpose of this blog is to organize and reorganize resources and my own work on the biology of Millepora spp. and their zooxanthellae.

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Some cell phone micrographs (not recent anymore)

I have been studying slides of Millepora platyphylla more closely recently.  Currently, effort has been expended toward getting a higher quality camera setup for my microscope.  More photos will be posted in the near future.  

This is a remarkable organism.  In just one slide, so many discoveries!  I still have not mastered the anatomy of this hydrocoral, so at this point, it's about exploration.  


Here are some photos I made tonight with my cell phone, a OnePlus 8t+.  I used the Pro mode, set to Raw.  This camera does not produce useful "raw" photos, though.  This mode works decently, but in these photos can be seen the kind of blurring I typically see with this camera.  


I cannot explain any of them well at this point. I post them now with the intention of commenting later. 



Here is a blank hole where a zooid belongs, or a medusa?  Probably a zooid.  Notice the nematocysts, so this may be at the top level.  This section is tangential along the extent of the thin tissue (c. 1 or 2 mm thick).


A zooid.  I am curious about the very small cells at what I am tempted to call the floor of this.   Some nematocysts.




The following structures are seen, on this slide, as probably part of the dactylozoids.  They are scattered around in a similar pattern, around the apparent gastrozoid.





The edges, as on the first image, above.  



Another similar structure as above.




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