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Microcosms

I can easily spend hours getting lost in small, aquatic worlds like tidepools. There's an abundance of biodiversity and activity if you just look closely enough... and watch. Some tidepools appear to be sand-filled pits, whereas others, only a few feet away, are filled with fish, seaweed, anemones, echinoderms, soft corals and, if you're really lucky, a cephalopod. This is a video and image collection of my favourite small, aquatic worlds captured under microscopes, with digital cameras or my phone tucked in a waterproof bag. I post more on my Instagram @theindigonaturalist.

Sea urchin tube feet

A collector urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) has decorated itself with seaweed in a tidepool. Its tube feet reach out and around for food and to get a "feel" for its surroundings. 

Sea star tube feet

Carpet, or 8-legged, sea stars (Meridiastra calcar) absorb their environment with their tube feet. The one on the right slowly moves along the rock of the tidepool.

Sea cucumbers forage

Sea cucumbers use their tentacles to forage and feel around the sandy bottom of a tidepool. 

Sea cucumbers forage

Sea cucumbers use their tentacles to forage and feel around the sandy bottom of a tidepool. 

Coral larvae swimming

Acropora tenuis (staghorn coral) larvae swim around in a small dish a few days after fertilisation.

Dip and smooth coral larvae

An Isopora palifera (elkhorn coral) larvae at just a few days old, gliding through the filtered seawater of a petri dish. It stops to warm itself alongside a section of the microscope light then continues to dip and smooth with its fluorescent pink and yellow body.

Moon jelly polyps with stacks of buds

An Aurelia aurita (moon jelly) during the polyp stage with stacks of buds preparing to turn into medusas. One immature medusa is to the far left. 

A lone anemone

A lone Anemonia mutabilis anemone with purple-tipped tentacles and a flame-like centre. 

Anemone in tide pool - copyright MSA
P. daedalea larvae - copyright MSA
Juicy mango

This Isopora palifera larvae at just a few days old, looks a bit like a juicy mango. A vibrant fluorescent pink and yellow body that will soon settle and turn into an elkhorn coral.

...a work in progress. More to come!

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