The pond in the backyard is almost completely dried up. There is skunk cabbage growing all over the soil. I dragged some of the remaining water, soil and leaf matter. A fairly wide range of creatures, for few of which I have a firm identification.
Some of these (some of the ostracods, the “newborn”) may be cladocerans. And the putative fairy shrimp in the first one may actually be a baby amphipod.
In this one short video, I think we have a fairy shrimp (the larger red one); a copepod (the other longish one); and an ostracod (small, round, doesn’t stand out in its color).
I think this is a copepod; you can see why it’s also known as a Cyclops. Most copepods have only one eye.
I saw several of these worms. I don’t know their identification. Notice the movement of fluid near the hind part. Diptera larvae has been suggested as the identification (as has Oligochaetes).
A closeup. Watch how it moves:
I don’t know what this is. My best guess is a newborn fairy shrimp. Notice the gel enveloping it.
Noticed several of these transparent worms. Nematodes seems the most likely identification.
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