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Tardigrades at Hastings
Water
Bears !
Never heard of a water bear? Well,
they are very small, and very, very peculiar animals. Dr. Carl Johansson,
from Fresno City College, spent some time at Hastings in late May (2007),
collecting water bears. Carl and crew have that rare sense of appreciation
for these tiny "water
bears".
They are distinct enough to have earned placement by some in their own
Phylum. How so? They require a good dissecting microscope to see, appear
to be related to arthropods, are cute as buttons, but can be dried out
entirely and not die. This "cryptobiotic state" allows them
to get through the dry California summers. During the winters, they bob
around in mosses, under lichens and in cracks of rocks, shingles, and
detritus. They are clumsy, creep awkwardly and their muscles are made
of only one or a few cells. They bound around, putting food in a mouth
where it enters a relatively typical invertebrate gut. Muscles are connected
to an exoskeleton (dark lines in the sketch). They twitch the muscles
that are attached to plates in their exoskeletons. They can bend and
move their feet awkwardly. Some can live in salt water, but most need
fresh water, or at least damp lichen. They have no lungs or gills; they
must get oxygen through their skin. They make eggs that are often used
by experts to identify different species. Most species lay 2-6 eggs.
A pile of tardigrade eggs would be a small nest indeed. Dr. Johansson
kindly provided a photo of California tardigrade, Hypsibius oberhaeuseri,
which is shown as a photo through a microscope (below). You never know;
these little guys could be bouncing all over that lichen growing on your
roof!
Click here for a list of Tardigrades collected at Hastings. Or here for
an Excel spreadsheet.
For more information, contact: Dr. Carl Johansson (carl.johansson_at_fresnocitycollege.edu)
Dr. Johansson's Tardigrade Team
