Collecting and photographing freshwater planaria (Polycelis coronate)

[Ecooper]

Hi all,

The photo below is of a freshwater planarian flatworm (Polycelis coronate) as it crawls along the surface of a submerged leaf. I posted this photo and a number of others on my blog tonight.

I have had a life-long fascination with planaria (I blame my sister, as I explain in my blog) and was delighted to find and collect some of these critters in a local stream last week. The white mass in the centre of **** body is its proboscis, through which it feeds; and if you look closely at its head you will see a large number of tiny black spots: those are eyespots.

Cheers,
EC
macrocritters


planaria on leaf 2_filtered final copyright Ernie Cooper 2012 sm for post by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

[f86sabjf]

thats a really neat shot

[Don Schaeffer]

How big is that? Really nice macro.

[Ecooper]

thats a really neat shot

Thanks!
EC
macrocritters

[Ecooper]

How big is that? Really nice macro.

Thanks! That little critter was about 6mm long.

EC
macrocritters