Extreme Microscopy 400x Magnification (Photos!!!)

Finally managed to definatively identify my two types of mosses by microscopy!!

I was lucky to have an opportunity to get my hands on a digital light microscope with magnification up to x400! I have long wanted to know what is the true ID of two types of aquatic moss I have in my aquarium, so this is the ultimate imaging tool to get detail microscopic image of the moss leaf structure! According to the images below with reference to various moss photos and microscopic images illustrated in an article by the renown Singaporean moss expert Prof. Tan, I think the two types of mosses I have are Christmas moss (Vesicularia montagnei or used to be named Vesicularia dubyana) and the common Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri). According this article, Christmas moss leaves are nearly round to broadly oval with a short pointed tip and the leaf cells are wide and short in outline. In contrast, the Java moss leaves are narrow with elongated tip and the leaf cells are smaller and narrowly oblong. The two types of mosses I have are consistent with these descriptions respectively.

more photos here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_microscopy.html

Christmas moss microscopy:






Java moss microscopy:

yes funny that the closer you get the more scientific it becomes! Perhaps this is because our eye cannot see such cellular details in a plant, anything beyond our ability to see would be scientific.

Bought a moss under the name Weeping moss sometime ago and now turned out to be the opposite, Erect moss (so I think, based on microscopic cell structure and the pattern of growth)!

Erect Moss (Vesicularia reticulata) according to this article:
http://www.killies.com/Truthaboutmosses.htm

Erect moss is similar to Xmas moss. Erect moss leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate (lance-shaped) with consistently long pointed tip and leaf cells are oblong to short elongate and broad, longer than those seen in Christmas Moss, but not as long and narrow as the leaf cells of Java Moss.

More photos here: http://www.theteh.com/html/extreme_microscopy.html