Pico Reef Aquarium (appr. 5 mL)

When I lived in Eilat (1996) I had a minuscule reef aquarium, filled with Red Sea water, in which I kept foraminiferans, radiolarians and other microscopic marine life. It was a simple flat bottom culture flask, placed on the table of a reverted microscope. I changed water weekly; feeding was not necessary since diatoms and other algae developed spontaneously to form a miniature ecosystem. Benthic foraminiferans I could keep for months, the planktonic radiolarians only a couple of days. The picture below of a live foraminiferan (Peneroplis sp.) was made in this little tank. The pseudopodia are photographed in phase contrast using electronic flash. The shell was illuminated with a second flash. Move you mouse over the picture and features will pop up: shell (seen from the underside)| shell aperture| protruding reticulopodia| reticulopodia| cyanobacteria| green alga| Peneroplis sp.