NocturnalSea on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/nocturnalsea/art/Rotifers-165353427NocturnalSea

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Rotifers

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I’ve always been fascinated by the intricacy of microscopic animals. Especially rotifers. They’ve always reminded me of little machines or alien spacecraft. Rotifers are filter feeders that use collars of hair-like cilia around their heads to pull in currents of food-laden water. The movement of many rotifers’ cilia resembles turning wheels, hence their scientific name (which means “wheel-bearer”). For this piece, I wanted to try out a more experimental look. The creatures depicted here are based off of real rotifers, though they have been sleeked down a bit.
The big one in the middle is a species of Philodina, a common group of rotifers that inhabit freshwater lakes, rivers, moss clumps and damp soils.
The two medium-sized creatures with the “head shields” on either side of the Philodina are members of the Squatinella genus, and the small ones near them are stylized Hexarthra mira
Those blue, spikey-haired rotifers lining the sides are Collotheca rotifers that live in fat, orange tubes. The “hairs” are actually long, sticky cilia that they use to trap food like a sea anemone.
The four-lobed, ice-cream cone-looking creatures are Melicerta ringens. Like Collotheca, these rotifers live in tubes. While Collotheca’s tube is a solid-walled tube, Melicerta constructs its house out of tiny balls of mud and mucous, stacked together like bricks.
Lastly, the flower-like objects floating throughout the drawing are colonies of Conochilus.
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© 2010 - 2024 NocturnalSea
Comments12
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V01DED-ACC0UNT's avatar
Oh Man! This is so appealing. I love how every space has been used to put a different Rotifer. It's like a artsy pattern mixed with a biology diagram.