Foraminifers
Foraminifers are one-celled Eukaryote organisms with a shell, usually based on calcium carbonate.
Subphylum: Foraminifera d'Orbigny, 1826
"Forams" are minute, waterliving creatures, usually ranging within the micromillimeters, but the largest specimens can grow up to 20 cm. In marine environments they make up the planktonsoup.
They move around with tiny filaments that protrude from there skeleton. There are two groups bottomcrawlers, Benthic and swimmers, Pelagic Foraminifers, which can be differentiated within this large Phylum.
Usually unnoticed these creatures can be easily spotted using a handmicroscope, just a spoonfull of seasand usually shows dozens of them. Looking for them in fossil layers is what i like to do.
Some examples, i took pictures from Cenozoic layers(66 million years to the present day), identification however can be a bit blurry cause of the vast numbers, but as with other living organisms a first look on there appearance makes it possible to outline them within a category that falls within the large Phylum of Foraminifera.
Lenticulina sp.
To have an idea of size, the other bits are sandgrains.
The come in all sizes and forms.
One of the larger specimens, Dentalina sp. .
Probably serving as food for other micro-organisms at the bottom of the foodchain and thus of importance, showing something different.
Check'm out!
In the Philippines, foraminifers are one of the most commonly used fossils for relatively dating rocks. I'm a geology student. It's nice to know other people taking an interest to what we study. ^_^
Good luck with your studies Hulkbuster and the outcome. It's an amazing world,
for me i'm a hobbyist(my age), trying to learn more each day, some geology, paleontology, nature in general.
Nice selection of interesting photographs. I am intrigued as to how you took them. Perhaps in some future post you could explain the basics, as I would be interested in trying to do something similar.
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Thanks Coldmonkey,
that's an idea, in this case i just used a handmicroscope, cheap model and a pocketcamera, it's tricky because of the focus, shooting a picture through the scope.
Well perhaps not the best way to make a topic about, should finally get to a USB-microscope, one of these.
Impressive photographs for such an apparently simple setup.