# Extreme Microscopy 400x Magnification (Photos!!!)



## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Finally managed to definatively identify my two types of mosses by microscopy!!

I have asked for moss ID previously in this thread:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plant-id/26853-moss-id-please-photos.html

I was lucky to have an opportunity to get my hands on a digital light microscope with magnification up to x400! I have long wanted to know what is the true ID of two types of aquatic moss I have in my aquarium, so this is the ultimate imaging tool to get detail microscopic image of the moss leaf structure! According to the images below with reference to various moss photos and microscopic images illustrated in an article by the renown Singaporean moss expert Prof. Tan, I think the two types of mosses I have are Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagnei or used to be named Vesicularia dubyana) and the common Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri). According this article, Christmas moss leaves are nearly round to broadly oval with a short pointed tip and the leaf cells are wide and short in outline. In contrast, the Java moss leaves are narrow with elongated tip and the leaf cells are smaller and narrowly oblong. The two types of mosses I have are consistent with these descriptions respectively.

more photos here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_microscopy.html

Christmas moss microscopy:



























Java moss microscopy:


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## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

I always enjoy your photos.


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## finfollower (May 27, 2004)

mmm fancy. how do you take those pictures?


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## erik Loza (Feb 6, 2006)

Amazing...


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Isn't nature cool? Nice photos.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Wow... so cool. You can even see the chloroplasts in one of the pictures... 

Makes me think about using my school's scope to take some pics of the plants i have... hmmmmm


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

The microscope was already linked to a digital camera, all I did was press a button and the image was captured on a compact flash card!


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## ADeWilde (Jun 20, 2006)

Nice pictures teh!!! I'm amazed at the number of chloroplast. I've viewed some terrestrial plants under similiar magnification before and none of them had the quantity of chloroplast in those pictures.


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks AdeWilde, perhaps the dense chloroplasts allow them to be 'low light' helping them to absorb as much light as possible! If this is true, high light plants should have low density chloroplasts? Plant biologists please answer this question!


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

Bought a moss under the name Weeping moss sometime ago and now turned out to be the opposite, Erect moss (so I think, based on microscopic cell structure and the pattern of growth)!

Erect Moss (Vesicularia reticulata) according to this article:
http://www.killies.com/Truthaboutmosses.htm

Erect moss is similar to Xmas moss. Erect moss leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate (lance-shaped) with consistently long pointed tip and leaf cells are oblong to short elongate and broad, longer than those seen in Christmas Moss, but not as long and narrow as the leaf cells of Java Moss.

More photos here: http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_microscopy.html


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## Pseud (Oct 19, 2005)

Nice photos... got any of those in 1280 x 1084? *grin*


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## theteh (Jan 19, 2006)

for some reason the first few photos have shrunken! (Probably showing the thumbnails instead).


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