Arcella the Shell Building Amoeba

[@JamsGerms]

Dear friends, it was an overwhelming week but I wanted to share the first organism I saw under the microscope. If I know myself, which I know, I may get a bit emotional, please bear with me. . It’s an Arcella, a shell building amoeba with a beautiful name and even with a more beautiful structure. I saw Arcella for the first time during a college course, I didn't know what it was, I asked my professor and he told me it's an amoeba with a shell. I was blown away. So intrigued and shocked by the complexity of this single-celled organism. . I learned that Arcella builds a shell for itself, hides inside, and extends parts of its cytoplasm out to walk and eat some smaller organisms. I learned that Arcella's shell is actually colorless at the beginning of its life but then when the minerals in the water seep into the shell and turn it to yellow, and even to black. . I was so amazed, I spent most of my life just learning things. I even studied ancient Egyptian just to have knowledge. And this microworld was the thing I was missing it was perfect and so many things to learn about. It was just a bit more than three years ago, since then I read, not exaggerating, tens of thousands of pages about microorganisms and I will keep reading and learning as long as I live. And if there is an afterlife I will continue to do the same. :P . I started my journey with a $160 microscope, I was posting on KZbin and 7 months later I started my Instagram and made my first 300 posts with that horrible microscope. People were always assuming I'm having an amazing microscope. No one was giving me credit for working so hard to get my images better and sharper. But now I have an amazing microscope and two gorgeous objectives which let me magnify 200 and 630 times. And for the first time, I feel like I have no setbacks from the technical part of the microscopy. . Thank you so much for helping me to get where I am right now. Thank you for your comments, your donations, and your mental support. . I will do this as long as there is a single person who reads and watches my posts.

[@frogz]

thank you so much for posting yet again james, i wish your scishow affiliated channel would acknowledge your personal youtube and not just your instagram, some amazing content here

[@wombat.6652]

THANK YOU !!! Wow! Please do keep posting - when you can. I never knew this. Love learning.

[@Oneirophrenic123]

Hey James, what was the microscope with which you started?

[@IdiotWithEducation]

I miss you James!

[@thombaz]

You are very inspiring to me, and I bet I'm not the only one.

[@clivemossmoon3611]

These images are breathtaking, thank you so much for posting.

[@ellamcdonald-lee2186]

It’s beautiful, thank you for posting despite the busy week.

[@vicaldama9314]

Around 2:44 Is that red thing that's fast and looks like it disappears. ?.. I assume all those other little bubble things are microorganisms?!

[@JamsGerms]

vic aldama that’s an alga called Trachalemonas but not entering the focus. :)

[@SkyfishArt]

Incredible that there is such a vibrant world that we cannot see.

[@yehaskel]

I just bought my second used microscope in a few weeks because I couldn't pass up for $60 what looked like several hundred ... and it did turn out to be a solid $400 trinocular ... All inspired very recently by your incredible Microcosmos (after I binge-watched all of them I made sure my name would be added to the supporter list at the end of the next new video), which then led me here. Really good *magnifiers* are indispensable from where I come from, so I don't know how I missed the microscope all those years when I was looking at rocks, minerals and a lot of meteorites. I need to get better at microscoping, and then I'd really like to learn how to get a decent photo - it's an amazing world. I'm cutting my microchops on the very small universe inside our AeroGarden™ with 18-24 months of continual indoor use. >>> Thank you

[@SLAUGHTEREDEYES]

Congrats on everything .. I started watching long ago. You do good work and I myself am starting to follow your path. I think dic microscopy is so beautiful, I cant wait to have one myself. Please keep up the good work and show us all the new set up when you get a chance. Ill be here as long as you are ! P.S. Which scope did you end up getting ?

[@kightremin]

I believe this man is a master of collecting samples. I do photomicrograph too, the hardest part for me is to find the sample and keep them happy.

[@01avaa]

What is that giant green thing?

[@theutheone]

Yeah, I'd like to know this too. Is that like some kinda tool he's using or is that a really big organism too?

[@SLAUGHTEREDEYES]

@@theutheone looks like cyanobacteria.

[@Kompost_king]

​@@theutheonealgie i think

[@adamsonntag5755]

This is what I call, Awesome!

[@ieabraham]

These are so so cool!!! I'm starting college next month and going for a bio degree. So excited to see my own little guys under a microscope :)

[@KoiRun50]

What’s the difference between arcella and centropyxis? I see a lot of them in my pond filters.

[@koronevirusreborn5220]

You will be my next science teacher

[@ArunG273]

What are those bubble like organism?

[@matthewbaker7513]

Hot damn, what a scope

[@ClifffSVK]

Mr. Monk, come look at this!

[@Oneirophrenic123]

Hey James, great footage! I have a question, what parts does the microscope you pieced together yourself consist of? Like which parts from which brands? I would appreciate an answer a lot! Thanks for doing what you do and congratulations on the sponsored microscope!

[@TheWalkingAmongTheDead]

How do you collect these samples? What even are they?

[@maxwellnavarro7817]

What is the giant green thing?

[@jahageervirk7273]

What is brownish colr around it

[@BartJBols]

What are all the little rice grain guys in the background. Some of them are moving but most seem... dead?

[@zephyr1018]

What are those tiny bugs in the background

[@KoiRun50]

I’d like to know too. Too big to be bacteria I would think. Fascinating though.

[@Hambxne]

Anyone have a link to the equipment this guy uses?

[@stillaliverr]

I love DIC´◡`

[@ebob4177]

❤

[@DarwinsTomcat]

Cool footage :) I'd like to use it in my upcoming video about amoebas. May I? You get proper credit, of course. And my video is non-commercial. Educational purposes only

[@fabricebareille]

I thoroughly enjoyed your post/comment, particularly the section about your first budget microscope! I've also started my own KZbin channel with the aim of inspiring new passions. To contribute to this, I've detailed in the channel's description the three surprisingly low prices I paid for my initial three microscope acquisitions. Since the first one I bought, I rarely spend a day without looking at something through the eyepiece or the mounted camera of one of my 3 babies! I can’t believe that I’ve posted almost 150 videos in just few months. Finding the right names for each video characters is always the most challenging part for a novice like me!!!! Thank you for the great inspiration and keep up the good work!!!! Does my channel look like yours at the beginning? please let me know if you come by!!!!🙂

[@kahra76man]

amoebas are in fact flat. we see them rounded because of the microscope lenses.

[@JamsGerms]

That's not true. Arcella has a "dome" shape.