37 replies to this topic

[jugglematt]

hi ho
here is shot of a tiny critter i saw on an ascidian at jervis bay australia

dx 3000
macro mode
cameras own flash

[jugglematt]

sorry
i ment to post this one
i have croped both images a fair bit
and played with contrast and brightness.
im gonna try for a better shot next time .
love the timy baby critter below

comments apreciated
matty

[Art]

Hi Matty
thanks for this photo ! a bizarre-looking arthropod ... as a marine zoologist I am a bit puzzled ... the resolution is a bit low to see the details, looks like a pycnogonid = sea spider (some species have 5 legs on each side), but it could be also a crustacean larva or an long-legged isopod
do you have more macro shots ?
cheerio
Art

[Lndr]

Heya Art,

We get these critters alot on the colonial ascidians (as in Matt's pic) on the south coast of NSW (Australia). The proportion of body seemed all wrong for a pycnogonid. The ones we are used to spotting anyways

Have been trolling through all my invertebrate texts (from a past life as a biologist) and I can't put my finger on what they are ... any suggestions on good references? There are long - legged Isopods?

I have been picking the brains of the wet pixilians out there on super macro, so there might be some more detailed shots soon ... I think Matt's DX 3000 was at max to get these shot - but I'm sure he'll tell you all about it

cheers
Lndr

[jimbo1946]

I don't know if this helps, but on Little Cayman, BWI, a few months ago, I photographed a small critter (2.5 cm) on a sponge. I looked it up in the Humann Caribbean book, and it was identified as a Swimming Crinoid. I doubt this could be related to jugglematt's critter, but it was interesting and I had never seen one before.

[Lndr]

I had a look at lunchtime and found these isopod shots. Now I've looked closely they seem to have a similar body shape.

As taken ...


And cropped ...


Taken with a Nikon F70 + Nikkor 60mm + Subal Housing + YS90 Duo
Jervis Bay Oct 2002

... so do you think they're related ???

[jugglematt]

hey art
ill have a look later , when i get home and see if ive got a better shot , u can probally see how really small they are, so its a bit of a challange to get anything at all.

hey jimbo
love your critter.
that small stuff can be fun .
when its getting smaller then the eye can see its getting challenging.

next time im down jervis bay im gonna spend a while and try and get a decent shot
reguards
matty

[Lndr]

As taken ...

[Lndr]

And cropped ...

[jugglematt]

hey lndr
now thats just showing off .(im jelous)
how small can u go !
id like to see one of thoes laying eggs .lol
reguards
matty

[jugglematt]

hey art is this any better?

lndr might have a clearer shot.
these critters are at the limit of my little camera.

[jugglematt]

here it is

[Art]

Hi folks

seems that I enhanced an interesting discussion about the tiny critters - hope to see more images posted

the "swimming crinoid" from the Caribbean is definetely a crinoid, related to the Eastern Atlantic Anthedon spp., I will try to provide a tentative id with the Hendler book later in the afternoon

I still don't know what's the tiny thing from the ascidians is (Matty's photo), but some pycnos have very similar, stout bodies, with spines, by far not all are slender as Nymphon, Pseudopallene or the deep-sea Collosseides

for this one I need a real good macro - and eventually a specimen (preserved in 70 % ethanol, rum will do it, too)

alternatively it could be an isopod

the red critters clinging on some sort of coral are definetely isopods, I think jaerids or close to them, but I will check to be sure

hey, does somebody have photos of skeleton shrimps (caprellids) ? I really like these ones ! and have a colleague in Sevilla, Spain, who works on them and would appreciate the pictures

cheerio
Art

[Lndr]

Here is a shot of one of the larger pycnogonids we get. This one from Port Stephens NSW.

The isopods are actually on a sponge. Forget its name momentarily ...

cheers
Lndr

[Art]

Hi again

thanks for the pycno shot - we had a student working on them - he will certainly know what it is

I have some ids for you

the red isopods are from a huge group called Asellota, and most probably either from the family Paramunnidae or Munnidae

the crinoid from the Virgin Islands (or Cayman Is ??) .. anyway .. it's Analcidometra armata

I also identified Craig's tiny "white moray eel": it's actually a wormlike white pipe fish Siokunichthys nigrolineatus, which is associated with mushrom corals

still working on Matty's creature

a photo under microscope would help !

cheers
Art

[Lndr]

For the record Matty's "Isopods" are on the ascidian Polycitor giganteus.

[jugglematt]

hey art have a look at this critter .
shot in the solomon islands . on sandy rubble at about13m
cameras own flash in macro mode

[jugglematt]

or hesetwo guys
brittle star and critter
taken at cronulla sydney

[Art]

Hi folks !

the crab from the Solomons is Calappa sp. (family Calappidae, or box crabs)
I though first it's Daldorfia horrida, a stone-mimicking parthenopid crab, but this has differently shaped claws and the frontal region is different, too so now I am inclined to think it's a calappid
I think it's one of the recently described species, I'll check with some IWP crab people

the small critter next to the ophiuroid from NSW is probably an isopod, too, maybe from the same family as the red ones, but it's so small and cryptic that I really can't tell more

bye
A

[jimbo1946]

SORRY - WRONG THREAD!

I'm guessing that this is a pycnogonid. I shot it in Fiji last year. I didn't know what it was, and the shot isn't very good. It was very small, maybe 2 cm or so.