Notes from a California naturalist

The nature of Nature

Menu
  • About me
  • Contact me
Menu

Swimming jellybeans

Posted on 2016-02-272023-01-06 by Allison J. Gong

When serendipity strikes, I try to go with the flow and ride it as long as I can. The latest wave is my batch of Dermasterias larvae, which are developing nicely for the first four days of life. And now they look just like jellybeans!

They have complete guts now and have already grown a bit, measuring 400-430 µm long. It’s not always easy to catch these guys in the right orientation to take a photo, as they are spinning and swimming through three-dimensional space, but I got lucky:

4-day-old dipleurula larva of Dermasterias imbricata. 26 February 2016 © Allison J. Gong
4-day-old dipleurula larva of Dermasterias imbricata.
26 February 2016
© Allison J. Gong

For now I’ve got the larvae divvied up into different feeding treatments. More on that later.

Share this:

  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Post navigation

← Serendipity strikes again
Gettin’ down and dirty →

1 thought on “Swimming jellybeans”

  1. Pingback: Seeing (wannabe) stars | Notes from a California naturalist

What do you think?Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • Bees
  • Birds
  • Field trip
  • General natural history
  • General science
  • Marine biology
  • Marine invertebrates
  • Photography
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Tags

algae beach bees bird birds citizen science cnidarians crustaceans desert drawing echinoderms ecology field trip fire fish forest gastropods herps hiking insects larvae mammal marine biology marine invertebrates microscopy mollusc molluscs mountains mushrooms natural history nature journal photography plankton plants river rocky intertidal sea stars sea star wasting sea urchins sponges teaching travel vertebrates weather worms

Recent Posts

  • Six months, and a big return 2026-01-02
  • Five weeks 2025-08-12
  • Afternoon mystery 2025-07-22
  • What to do in Vegas when you don’t “do” Vegas 2025-02-21
  • Spying on the hunter 2025-01-15
April 2026
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Jan    

Archives

© 2026 Allison J. Gong
All material mine unless otherwise specified  

©2026 Notes from a California naturalist
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d