Plankton and Protozoa

stemturtle · April 24, 2018, 08:01:55 PM

These acrylic keychain figures were made by Ayano Katayama, sold on a website called minne.com. Shown with keychains removed. Thanks to Brett and Emiko. Thickness is about 4 mm thick, like two quarter dollars stacked. They complement the new Science Technicolor set of microorganisms.

Amoeba proteus

Brachionus sp., a rotifer

bmathison1972 · April 24, 2018, 11:02:40 PM

uggh, I wish I would have known about these before they got sold out. I have the entire Ikimon set coming though

stemturtle · April 25, 2018, 12:21:51 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on April 24, 2018, 11:02:40 PM
uggh, I wish I would have known about these before they got sold out. I have the entire Ikimon set coming though

I came late to that party too.
Hope you will have time to post a review of the Ikimon set when it is delivered.

bmathison1972 · April 26, 2018, 01:36:03 AM

Quote from: stemturtle on April 25, 2018, 12:21:51 PM
Quote from: bmathison1972 on April 24, 2018, 11:02:40 PM
uggh, I wish I would have known about these before they got sold out. I have the entire Ikimon set coming though

I came late to that party too.
Hope you will have time to post a review of the Ikimon set when it is delivered.

yes I am planning on a comprehensive review of the whole set, per usual.

bmathison1972 · May 30, 2018, 01:45:17 AM

I just did a review of the whole set but here are the Ikimon plankton (the three with an asterisk are new at the genus level):

1. Pedastrium species*
2. Volvox species*
3. Noctiluca scintillans
4. Scenedesmus species*
5. Euglena species
6. Paramecium bursaria
7. Daphnia pulex
8. Closterium species

stemturtle · May 30, 2018, 12:54:24 PM

Your photography is stunning, bmathison. Flat items on a shelf can be difficult to see.
My set is displayed in a shadow box frame hanging on the wall.

bmathison1972 · May 30, 2018, 03:06:12 PM

Quote from: stemturtle on May 30, 2018, 12:54:24 PM
Your photography is stunning, bmathison. Flat items on a shelf can be difficult to see.
My set is displayed in a shadow box frame hanging on the wall.

Mine are not on shelves yet. Still trying to decide how to display them

bmathison1972 · July 08, 2018, 02:53:35 AM

Promastigote stage of Leishmania species. This is another glassworks jewelry by Trilobite Glassworks. You can buy her stuff in Etsy, but I got this one in person at a booth when I attended the ASM/Microbe meeting in Atlanta last month!

P.S. @stemturtle, we have made this quite a substantial thread!

stemturtle · July 08, 2018, 03:34:02 PM

The Leishmania is a nice catch, bmathison.
As the folk song (by Bill Staines) says, "All God's creatures got a place in the choir."

bmathison1972 · July 30, 2019, 11:57:02 PM

The Crystal Light Ball Plankton set by So-Ta, new for 2019. The 'figures' are etched into glass balls. The balls sit loosely (not attached) to the base; the balls measure 4.0 cm in diameter. The base contains a switch that activates red, blue, and green lights that cycle through. So, the color is always changing, from white to blue to green to hot pink! There are five species, four shown here: Volvox, Closterium, Euglena gracilis, and Stentor. The Stentor is a new taxon in model form (to my knowledge); do you have this species @stemturtle ? The fifth species is Daphnia pulex, and will be highlighted on Blaine's Bug of the Day!

Beetle guy · July 31, 2019, 04:37:31 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on May 30, 2018, 03:06:12 PM
Quote from: stemturtle on May 30, 2018, 12:54:24 PM
Your photography is stunning, bmathison. Flat items on a shelf can be difficult to see.
My set is displayed in a shadow box frame hanging on the wall.

Mine are not on shelves yet. Still trying to decide how to display them

Hang them in midair using fishing thread attached to a rod. I will send you a scetch of the idea!

bmathison1972 · October 02, 2019, 12:36:40 AM

With the help and Brett and Emiko, I was able to get a complete set of the Ayano Katayama acrylinc plankton mascots! @stemturtle was right, they compliment the Ikimon set well, but in some ways they are better because they have some texture and 3D relief to them. The artist is on maternity leave, but she was gracious enough to make me a complete set. Even got them slightly cheaper because I didn't need the keyrings.

Left to right, top to bottom:

1. Paramecium sp.
2. Amoeba proteus
3. Brachionus sp. [my first rotifer]
4. Closterium sp.
5. Pedastrium sp.
6. Daphina pulex
7. Volvox sp.
8. Bosmina longirostris [new genus and species of water flea]
9. Leptodora kindtii
10. Cyclops sp.

Animalibus · October 03, 2019, 06:55:54 PM

Very beautiful! Congratulations!

stemturtle · October 29, 2020, 04:29:42 PM

Kelp, unidentified species, K&M Int. (Kelp Forest Tube), 1997, height about 5.25 in. or 13.5 cm.

Two kelp figures are attached to a common base. Kelp are brown algae. These seaweeds may look like plants, but are classified as stramenopiles, along with diatoms and other related protists, in the SAR supergroup.

The label on the tube mentioned giant kelp. We could speculate that the taller figure might be a giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera. Gas bladders (pneumatocysts) are sculpted on the model. Any guess what species the shorter kelp might be? I was lucky to find this pair of kelp on eBay after searching for several years.

bmathison1972 · October 29, 2020, 04:32:07 PM

WHOA...I didn't realize that kelp tube came with....kelp! I may have to try and hunt these down.

stemturtle · October 29, 2020, 05:37:54 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on October 29, 2020, 04:32:07 PM
WHOA...I didn't realize that kelp tube came with....kelp! I may have to try and hunt these down.

Good luck. My search was Wild Republic Nature Tube.

Halichoeres · October 31, 2020, 09:59:26 PM

Cool, not a lot of plastic heterokonts out there!

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Plankton and Protozoa