Favorite North American FW Invertebrate?

Nothing's more fun that a good ole proglottid hunt.

Currently my favorite is the Beavertail Fairy Shrimp, Thamnocephalus platyurus. Ever since I first found these wild in Kansas a few years ago Ive been quite fascinated.

Heres the first pic I took of one that I collected wild. I seem to have misplaced my other photos, perhaps I will add more later.


Most of the fairy shrimp in this pool you could just scoop up hundreds with an aquarium dip net, but these large ones were solitary swimmers and they could see you coming and they would dive. After netting around in this large pool for about an hour I think I only caught about 5.



Unfortunately the farmer that owns this land did some drainage work last year and I havent seen water in this pool since. There are a couple smaller pools nearby that I will be checking this year.

I found some more pics of the T. platyurus

The tail didnt show up in this one, so I tried a darker background on the next.




This male was collected from a pool I started in my yard by adding dirt from another pool and letting it fill in with rain. The actual size of this pool is only about 4x5 feet and about 10 inches deep. I had a few Triops in this pool as well.

I had one of those commercial triops kits when I was little... It was pretty cool

This I agree, the stocking level per dog should remain low. It would be best actually to get a good weight for the dog to make sure the tapeworms are receiving appropriate care and sufficient food. In my experiance though tape worms make pretty difficult to observe pets. The video probes and all make it really hard to enjoy them. Really except for their seperated proglottid which can be seen with out much difficulty under rather smelly conditions they are rather cryptic..

Better yet, keep your tapeworm collection, er..."closer to home." I recently saw a presentation by a parasitologist who filled in one of the missing pieces of information in a species' life cycle by completely intentionally ingesting eggs and, therefore, giving himself a tapeworm.

Travis

Better yet, keep your tapeworm collection, er..."closer to home." I recently saw a presentation by a parasitologist who filled in one of the missing pieces of information in a species' life cycle by completely intentionally ingesting eggs and, therefore, giving himself a tapeworm.

Travis

Now there is a man after my own heart anything for science and dedication to the understanding of a species..

I do not know about giving myself tapeworms intentionally but I do offer a bit of myself to my medicinal leeches every few months or so. What the hell it works...

Now there is a man after my own heart anything for science and dedication to the understanding of a species..

I do not know about giving myself tapeworms intentionally but I do offer a bit of myself to my medicinal leeches every few months or so. What the hell it works...

I don't know about you, but I tried that with a turtle leech just for fun a couple of summer ago, and it hurt quite a bit when it was "digging in". What happened to this alleged anesthetic they produce? Of course, I tried it on my ankle where there wasn't a lot of meat, so maybe that's why it was painful?

I don't know about you, but I tried that with a turtle leech just for fun a couple of summer ago, and it hurt quite a bit when it was "digging in". What happened to this alleged anesthetic they produce? Of course, I tried it on my ankle where there wasn't a lot of meat, so maybe that's why it was painful?

Likely was the location it attached. Normally you would never even know they where there.

Brook - is Nephelopsis that little gray leech often found with blackworms?
eating worms and snails is fine, but do you know will they also eat fish eggs or non-swimming larvae on the bottom ?
(maybe an experment is in order)

the water scorpion Nepa is one of my favorite N.Amer inverts, and the dwarf caryfishes Cambarellus, oh and fairy shrimp - Streptocephalus seali is the one i've seen a few times in NC. adult males turn greenish, females reddish. Do those beavertail ones have sexually dimorphic color too ?

Sounds like the above two leeches are one of the many Predatory forms rather than parasitic. The ribbon leech Nephelopsis is a common form of these. These leeches are mostly worm insect larvae and snail predators, However, they can be quite the scavengers also....They really are quite cool to watch hunt down a black worm or small red worm in an enclosure.

is Nephelopsis that little gray leech often found with blackworms?
eating worms and snails is fine, but do you know will they also eat fish eggs or non-swimming larvae on the bottom ?
(maybe an experment is in order)

The leeches found in blackworms are usually Nephelopsis or another closely related form that is a detritus feeder (I need to look up that Genus again). I'm not really sure if they would harm fish eggs or non-swimming fry. I have always just assumed this would be the case so have kept them out of spawning and fry tanks as a precaution. I have no solid evidence to back this pratice up though.

This may very well be a good experiment.

I dig the water scorpions too. I've always been a bug guy though. I want a toe-biter also. They seem pretty vicious:D

My favorites are Grammarus (Scuds) and Tardigrada (Water Bears). If you've never heard of Water Bears...CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO!!!

http://www.microscop...mbearvideo.html

I almost soiled my linens in utter amazement.

My favorites are Grammarus (Scuds) and Tardigrada (Water Bears). If you've never heard of Water Bears...CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO!!!

http://www.microscop...mbearvideo.html

I almost soiled my linens in utter amazement.

Gross! I almost soiled my linens in utter disgust! How big do they get?

Gross! I almost soiled my linens in utter disgust! How big do they get?

They are microscopic, but multicellular. If you have a microscope or access to one, simply grab a piece of lichen or moss (aquatic or terrestrial) and stick it under a microscope. You should be able to find them easily. They are found from 30.000 feet under the ocean to mountains 30,000 feet high. They can go into what's called cryptobiosis, a deathlike hibernation that can allow them to theoretically live forever. They go into this state when the environment is too dry, as they need to maintain a water layer around their bodies...almost like how fish have a mucus layer. All in all I just think it is amazing how they resemble a lizard or bear and yet are so small.

While not as exotic as water bears and blood suckers I love my colony of dwarf cajun crawdads. They are always doing something intersting and breed like crazy. Good clean up critters too. I keep them with my heterandria formosa and haven't seen and problems between the two.

While not as exotic as water bears and blood suckers I love my colony of dwarf cajun crawdads. They are always doing something intersting and breed like crazy. Good clean up critters too. I keep them with my heterandria formosa and haven't seen and problems between the two.

I always wanted to try those. I've got red cherry shrimp and crystal red shrimp right now. I really like what I've got, but definitely next project for sure.

I always wanted to try those. I've got red cherry shrimp and crystal red shrimp right now. I really like what I've got, but definitely next project for sure.

Smbass (Zimmerman's CR Natives) has them available $10 a pair. Not too bad IMO.

Natureman,
I am in Springfield right down the road so when you are ready to try out the dwarf crays let me know. I will hook you up. I have a ton of these little guys. We can trade or whatever.
Sam

Natureman,
I am in Springfield right down the road so when you are ready to try out the dwarf crays let me know. I will hook you up. I have a ton of these little guys. We can trade or whatever.
Sam

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for letting me know!

I have a new favorite -- isonychiid mayflies. I love the way they swim

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