What is this organism? Please see attached pictures.

Curious

Where was is discovered?

The sample is from Northern California.  My theory is that they are airborne, but I have only minimal evidence of that because these are invisibly small and, therefore, difficult to detect.  My goal here is to challenge that theory.  Nonetheless, this organism has yet to be identified.  Can you think of anyone that might know it and pass this along?  Your interest is greatly appreciated. 

Need more information, where did you obtain the sample? Pond, tap water, etc?

Was it dead when you found it, is it still alive? How does it move? Does it beat?

The sample is not from a water source but responds favorably to water.  What you see pictured sprang from a sample (at about three weeks) that I've been watching for about a month.  The organism that you see is now unaccounted for, but I was able to get some pretty interesting video when I had the chance.  I am now looking at three separate slides from the original sample.  Initially, it did not appear to be alive, but upon closer examination, I noticed the movement of tiny multicolored nucleii (resembling ice cream sprinkles) and gradually, it began to culture.  These nucleii are one of the few consistencies throughout my observation.  About two weeks ago, I got some video of a similar organism "hatching" for lack of a better description.  Its proboscis moved in a manner similar to an insect (I'm going to attempt to attach a brief video).  The organism in the pictures here seemed to morph more than move as you might expect.  One theory is that it is an insect parasite.  I'm baffled here.  Thanks again for taking a look.     

Don't mean to be a stiff here, but you still haven't answered where the sample was obtained? Soil? A pond? A puddle?

Furthermore, you're showing what appears to be a complex creature at 1000x. I just can't imagine something, which appears to look like a tick, be so small and intricate. There's something just not right about this whole thing - something just doesn't add up. Could it be an aggregate of cells, maybe.

No sweat.  I totally agree.  That is why I am here.  Some of the other video that I have is equally confounding.  The sample is from the air, and a total coincidence that I even looked at it in the first place.  It looked like a [very] fine fiber attached to an "island" of [possibly silicate] material the size of a grain of sand.  I was initially intrigued because the end of the fiber that attached to the island had braided/twisted upon itself in opposing directions in a manner that looked organized, similar to a strain of algae that I've seen [pictures of].  I decided to get a closer look at the fiber because it looked very textured at lower magnification.  In the beginning, it was as if the organism were dormant but my interest was piqued when I noticed the "sprinkle-like" nucleii strewn about.  As time went on, I would see groups of them floating around: imagine a molecule illustration from a bio textbook or a bunch of tiny circular balloons.  I started to think that I was on to something when I saw what I call the "scorpion tail" (pics attached) which is vaguely similar to a nematode but also appears to be very different.  The attached photos depict the only such structure that I have seen when you might think there should be a bunch of them.  I get it; this is odd.  Take a look at these new pics and thanks for hanging in. 

Post Merge: 10 years ago

Padre,
I am using this Omax.  The photos that I have posted represent its maximum capabilities.  However, the camera could be better. The recurring spot you see on the images came with it out of the box.   

Regarding the organism.  The marking on this diatom frustule looks similar to the marking on the fin of the so-called scorpion tail organism.  I am not a biologist, but that is just a strange coincidence, given the other oddities, of which there are many.

Thanks for providing that information. It's neat that you have a microscope attached to your computer. I guess your safest bet would be to assume it's some sort of diatom; other than that, I'm just as much at a lose here as you are.

This forum is not the first nor the only authority I have gone to with this.  I harvested my newest sample last night  growing on the microscope itself.   The nuclei that I mentioned can be seen here. 

What have others said about it? How do you know that dark spot is the nuclei? What you see moving could be a separate microorganism.

Others have suggested hydra, nematode, worm, or didn't know. 

Great point.  If the nuclei are another organism altogether, their co-existence could be a clue or mean nothing.  They seem like a cyanobacteria or something fitting that general description.  This could be either a.) a symbiotic partnership, b.) a co-incidence: bacteria is everywhere, c.) or possibly, the base organism from which all of these other structures are derived.  Do bacteria move like that, or just move by multiplying outward?  Refer to the first video post: that speck which is fluttering around like a tiny sparrow is two or three of the nuclei that we are discussing.  They are multicolored, that is, each nucleus is of a particular color ranging from yellow to black, pink to green, white to red, basically every color on the spectrum.  What does that sound/look like?

Bacteria either move by twitching or gliding. In order for them to swim through the medium, they'd need a tail-like structure called a flagellum.