STUNNING footage shows microscopic vampire parasites consume the body of a tiny crustacean

Stunning video shows microscopic vampire parasites feeding on a tiny crustacean from the INSIDE OUT

  • An independent scientist captures award-winning footage of a parasite attack
  • The video shows a small crustacean called a copepod being attacked
  • The parasite enters the host through a wound and feeds on its cytoplasm
  • The footage was honored in the Nikon Small World in Motion Competition  

An amazing new video shows footage of an aggressive microscopic parasite consuming a small crustacean from the inside out.

The footage was recorded by Richard R. Kirby, an independent scientist, filmmaker, and former Royal Society university research fellow, who was awarded a Nikon Small World in Motion prize for the work.

Kirby’s video shows a copepod that’s been infected with an aggressive microscopic parasite called vampyrophyra pelagica.

Copepods are a small and highly adaptable crustacean that can live in both fresh and salt water.

They have been found living on the seafloor, in moss, underneath leaves in wet forests, and in stream beds, among many other locations.

Mature copepods typically measure between one and two millimeters in length and subsist on a diet of mostly phytoplankton.

Copepods are frequent targets of vampyrophyra pelagica, which attach themselves to the crustacean’s exterior and then enclose themselves in a protective cyst.

The parasite remains inactive in these small cysts until the host copepod is either wounded or is eaten by another, larger crustacean.

The stunning video was captured by independent scientist and filmmaker Richard R. Kirby and honored in the 2019 Small World in Motion Competition sponsored by Nikon

Kirby captured the footage using a technique called darkfield microscopy, which involves illuminating a microscope slide from below with a hollow cone of light that illuminates it while keeping the background black

Kirby captured the footage using a technique called darkfield microscopy, which involves illuminating a microscope slide from below with a hollow cone of light that illuminates it while keeping the background black

The footage shows a small parasite called vampyrophira pelagica invading a host crustacean and feeding on its cytoplasm from the inside out

The footage shows a small parasite called vampyrophira pelagica invading a host crustacean and feeding on its cytoplasm from the inside out

At this point, the vampyrophyra exit their cysts and enter the body of the copepod through the copepod’s wound and begin feeding on its cytoplasm, effectively eating its corpse from the inside out.

Kirby was able to capture this occurrence using a photographic technique called darkfield microscopy, one of two approaches to capturing microscopic life on video.

The more common technique is called brightfield microscopy, which entails placing a cone of light beneath a slide and using a special lens to capture the ways the light is refracted by the sample.

In contrast, darkfield microscopy uses a hollow cone of light with a dark center to illuminate the bottom of the slide, framing the subject in a bright halo of light.

The parasites attacked a copepod (pictured above), a small crustacean that typically measures between one and two millimeters and lives on a diet of mostly phytoplankton

The parasites attacked a copepod (pictured above), a small crustacean that typically measures between one and two millimeters and lives on a diet of mostly phytoplankton

Copepods are highly adaptable creatures that can live in both fresh water and salt water. They have been found on sea floors, in moss, underneath leaves in wet forests, and more

Copepods are highly adaptable creatures that can live in both fresh water and salt water. They have been found on sea floors, in moss, underneath leaves in wet forests, and more

It works similarly to backlighting in photography and allows the microscopic subject to be recorded against a black background to help it stand out.

The video was honored in the 2019 Small World in Motion Competition, a contest originally founded by Nikon in 1975 to celebrate photographers that specialize in microscopic subjects.

The competition expanded to include videos in 2011.

NIKON’S SMALL WORLD IN MOTION CONTEST 

The Nikon International Small World Competition launched in 1975 to celebrate photographers who use a light microscope, also known as photomicrographers.

In 2011, Nikon announced it would start accepting movies taken through the microscope as a new category.

This category, called Small World in Motion accepts any video or digital time-lapse photography taken through the microscope.

Photographers can use any type of light microscopy technique, including phase contrast, polarised light, fluorescence, interference contrast, darkfield, confocal, deconvolution, and mixed techniques, as well as record any subject matter.

 

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