Mikrofauna Videos

Extra-terrestrial life from remote universes? No, what you can watch here are truly terrestrial representatives of Microfauna, living in every natural, ecologically intact pool.

Only the microscope gives us the opportunity to immerse into this mysterious universe and to be amazed once and again by the incredible variety of different species. (See video clips and scene photos.)

But almost none of them can be made out and watched as "life in a drop of water", because pelagic water contains hardly any living organisms; they prefer submerged aquatic plants to colonize on them in dense populations.

Schema This aquatic plant has proved to be the ideal object for examining primitive aquatic life. It looks like a green bottle brush and swims in pools almost at the surface of the water.

It offers some highly appreciable advantages to other species of aquatic plants.If growing in good conditions, its delicate, pinnate leaves can create an enviroment where a great range of microorganisms feel at ease. Thus you can discover a cross section of the whole spectrum of microfauna just under a coverslip.

(Click the icon "Schema" and you are offered a panoptic collection of organisms I've discovered while observing Myriophyllum in the course of more then ten years.)

To prepare samples is so easy that even a "microscopist" of about ten years can manage. Just drip a drop of water on a microscope slide, add a twig from one of the pinnate leaves, then put a coverslip on top of it and set out for diving expedition.

And there is no danger of squashing the delicate animals, because the leaves are thick enough to form a miniaquarium for these microorganisms, which can even move freely. On the other hand, the twigs are thin enough to achieve focal depth with an objective magnifying a 100 times.