Post by Erik Zschaubitz

Detected Zooplankter of the Month-June🔬🦐 This month’s featured zooplankton detected by our AI model is Pompholyx sulcata, a planktonic rotifer commonly found in freshwater ecosystems. 🔹 Appearance Small, transparent rotifer with a rigid, oval to egg-shaped lorica characterized by distinct longitudinal grooves. The head bears two distinctive, lens-like eyes and a ciliated corona used for swimming and suspension feeding. 🔹 Size Females typically measure 85-120 µm in body length. Males are rarely encountered, short-lived, and considerably smaller, usually measuring 50-70 µm. 🔹 Occurrence Common in lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and other standing or slow-flowing freshwater habitats, particularly in temperate regions. It is most abundant in the open water of mesotrophic to eutrophic lakes. 🔹 Movement Swims smoothly through the water column by the coordinated beating of the cilia on the corona, with occasional rapid changes in direction. 🔹 Metabolism Suspension feeder filtering bacteria, small algae, detritus, and fine suspended organic particles from the surrounding water. 🔹 Reproduction Reproduces mainly by cyclical parthenogenesis under favorable conditions. During environmental stress, sexual reproduction produces dormant resting eggs that survive unfavorable conditions. 🔹 Risk of confusion May be confused with other loricate rotifers, particularly species of Testudinella and Keratella. Reliable identification is based on the characteristic grooved lorica, paired lens-like eyes, and overall body shape. 🔹 Special features Pompholyx sulcata is an important component of freshwater plankton communities and is frequently used in limnological monitoring as an indicator of changing environmental conditions. In addition to P. sulcata, the AI model developed at photomicAI, a spin-off project from Fraunhofer IGD can detect a wide range of plankton species. Our AI-based software enables efficient, image-driven analysis of aquatic ecosystems for ecological monitoring and water quality assessment. Dennis Sidin #ai #microscopy #plankton #zooplankton #aquatic #ecosystem