Collecting and photographing freshwater planaria (Polycelis coronate)

ECooper

AC Members
Jun 30, 2010
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Vancouver
Hi all,

The photo below is of a freshwater planarian flatworm (Polycelis coronate) as it crawls along the surface of a submerged leaf. I posted this photo and a number of others on my blog tonight.

I have had a life-long fascination with planaria (I blame my sister, as I explain in my blog) and was delighted to find and collect some of these critters in a local stream last week. The white mass in the centre of **** body is its proboscis, through which it feeds; and if you look closely at its head you will see a large number of tiny black spots: those are eyespots.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com


planaria on leaf 2_filtered final copyright Ernie Cooper 2012 sm for post by ernie.cooper, on Flickr
 
weird
 
Ever done any surgery on them? Making two headed planaria is fun!
 
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