#ramazottius

“The ones we find usually belong to one of two genera, both of which you can see here. That reddish one is in the genus Ramazottius. And the other one is Milnesium. The name of the Ramazottius genus comes from Giuseppe Ramazzotti, who was a tardigradologist, which--yes-- is the actual name of an actual job. And their reddish color comes from pigments in their cuticle, which is basically, their exoskeleton. We think this color might be a way to protect the inside of the tardigrade from the sun's radiation... basically, tardirade sunscreen! Whether or not that is true, we can certainly appreciate how the colors make it look like a ruddy, half-transclucent alligator with way too many legs.“

Journey to the Microcosmos- Some Water Bears Live on Land

“While we've talked about tardigrades quite a bit on this channel, one of their weird quirks that we haven't gotten into are their coelomocytes. See, tardigrades are multicellular organisms, but they don't have a circulatory or respiratory system. So, how do they deliver all of the things they need to deliver to all of their cells? Well, they have coelomocytes. These are little storage cells that hold sugars and protein and lipids, and they transport them around the tardigrade's body. It's like little presents delivered from cell to cell in a bubble that floats around the organism. It's kind of adorable.“

Journey to the Microcosmos- Some Water Bears Live on Land

“Along with all the squirrels and birds and bugs scurrying up and down and around trees, there are also tiny little tree tardigrades tucked into the watery drops inside moss and lichen that grow on the tree's surface. They're not actually called tree tardigrades, they're called terrestrial tardigrades, because they live on land they're a little bit different from the tardigrades we've shown here thus far.”

Journey to the Microcosmos- Some Water Bears Live on Land

Images Originally Captured by Jam’s Germs

“In some tardigrades, the number of storage cells stays constant. But in others, like our Milnesium tardigrades, the number of storage cells will go down when the tardigrade is dealing with starvation, or when they go through anhydrobiosis, that famous state where the tardigrades dry themselves out to survive. The milnesium tardigrade may not have the color of the Ramazottius, but it is still very fun to watch.”

Journey to the Microcosmos- Some Water Bears Live on Land