My favorite dinoflagellates and my new favorite Ctenophore.
Posted by Lefthanded_Hero@reddit | marinebiology | View on Reddit | 5 comments
I have been experimenting with keeping noctiluca scintellans I’ve collected from south Puget Sound alive in a jar. I’m in the water snorkeling or kayaking at least three days a week year round so I’ve been collecting fresher water and using a pipette to move them around and take out excess copepods for release. A week in I accidentally brought home a ctenophore smaller than a sesame seed. I had an excess of copepods and he nearly doubled in size daily for the first three days with his bell growing from 1/32 inch to 3/16 in the first three days before slowing and not quite making 1/4 inch the last day. Sebastian (named after Bach since I’m fairly certain it is pleurobrachia bachei) is quite the amazing creature but I had a night kayak trip with perfect conditions to release him and he was getting by too big for his jar anyways. My kayak buddy had a jar with a few she accidentally picked up the same night but as she did not have the copious amounts of copepods hers were still sesame seed size. We both released our first jars and picked up a new batch as the bio was particularly strong. I’ve got two new jars full but in the bio bloom this time I picked up some small cross jellyfish that I have siphoned into one jar I will be releasing and I may have a salt grain size sea gooseberry in the second jar. I feel like I need a microscope but I’ve been trying to identify the copepods as well and other plankton I’ve inadvertently captured. The copepods are essential as they bump into the dinoflagellates and make them flash. I keep a light on them twelve hours and have them right in front of air conditioning unit to keep the water cool. I’m guessing as other phytoplankton starts to drop off for fall and winter they will have less food and may drop off as well but I miss them when the summer is gone so I’m hoping I have some success. If anyone can identify the other creatures I’d appreciate it, and if anyone’s had any success with bioluminescent algae I’d love some tips. Either way enjoy the video dump :) The dark video captures maybe 1/4 of the flashes of the noctiluca.
suicidalcentipede8@reddit
Wish I got this in my aquarium instead of the regular green one haha
KaantjeBanaantje@reddit
Hey that’s super cool!! Im actually a phd student studying bioluminescent algae. Unfortunately it’s really difficult to culture Noctiluca, as they are heterotrophs, and thus need a fresh food source such as green algae or diatoms. In larger containers (>5 liters) they often do much better than in smaller ones. But if you haven’t checked with a microscope, there is always the chance it could be another type of bioluminescent dinoflagellate. There are many soecies capable of producing light, and some of them are very easily culturable. You can even order them from this website: pyrofarms.com Anyway, very very cool ✨🌊
Lefthanded_Hero@reddit (OP)
Yeah I’ve been concerned about them being heterotrophs so I’ve been trying to bring them a food source in their water refreshes. They are large and you can see them in some of the videos but of course not big enough to see their flagellum. Maybe in this zoomed in still? The new batch is from a stronger bloom and have a light orange hue. They are the main bioluminescent algae this far north and I’m pretty certain that’s what I have. I’m just hoping I can continue to collect their food source in my water additions. I have looked into culturing Pyrocystis fusiformis if they didn’t make it, but I’m hoping to keep the natives alive. They seemed to be surviving pretty well the couple weeks I had the first batch but i must be more vigilant with a pipette at making sure I get the unwanted creatures into a release jar before they are too large, otherwise im just running a jelly catch and release program or a predator buffet. I can get them into a bigger container. It would be beneficial to keep adding to a larger home instead of pipetting them from one jar to another anyways. Thank you.
Lefthanded_Hero@reddit (OP)
Lefthanded_Hero@reddit (OP)