Exceptional clarity! A question you may know the answer to: I often find these with a sac of ostensibly birefringent crystals behind the eyespot. They glow yellow in DIC or polarized light. I can share footage if you’re not sure what I mean. Any idea what those are?
Thanks! It is usually the retrocerebral organ, which in some species contains crystalline substances and, consequently, presents birefringence. It can be clearly seen in my video about Notommata contorta: ua-cam.com/video/zJBsznKZuxY/v-deo.html And in other rotifers that are shown in the excellent web: www.plingfactory.de
@@microbizkaia6793 thank you so much! That clears up a long-standing mystery for me. Too bad it seems like nobody knows what the function is, though :( Interesting how the crystals are present and densely concentrated in some individuals and sparse or mostly absent in others. A clue to their true nature?
Exceptional clarity! A question you may know the answer to: I often find these with a sac of ostensibly birefringent crystals behind the eyespot. They glow yellow in DIC or polarized light. I can share footage if you’re not sure what I mean. Any idea what those are?
Thanks!
It is usually the retrocerebral organ, which in some species contains crystalline substances and, consequently, presents birefringence. It can be clearly seen in my video about Notommata contorta:
ua-cam.com/video/zJBsznKZuxY/v-deo.html
And in other rotifers that are shown in the excellent web: www.plingfactory.de
@@microbizkaia6793 thank you so much! That clears up a long-standing mystery for me. Too bad it seems like nobody knows what the function is, though :(
Interesting how the crystals are present and densely concentrated in some individuals and sparse or mostly absent in others. A clue to their true nature?