With its mouth stilettos, tardigrades perforate plants and absorbe the products of photosynthesis, but they can also feed absorbing the cellular content of other microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, rotifers, nematodes… Some are predators too and can eat whole microorganisms.
Look at this video of Craig Smith to see tardigrade’s movements in more detail: FEEDING Photo de Eye Of Science/Science Photo Library Colored photo taken with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Photo by Eye Of Science/Science Photo Library Tardigrade (Echiniscus sp.) In which you can see the claws. Bottom view of a Tardigrade where the five segments of the body are observed. Each leg has claws for anchoring to the ground. Their bodies are divided into five segments: cephalic, with its tube-shaped mouth ( proboscis) with two internal stilettos and sometimes simple eyes ( ommatidia) and sensory hairs, and the remaining 4 segment with a pair of legs per segment. Its popular name refers to their appearance, and the scientific name to their slow movements. It is estimated that over 1,000 species exist. They are found in Antarctica under layers of 5 meters of ice, in warm deserts, hot springs, in mountains 6,000 meters high and abyssal ocean depths: they are extremophiles. In one gram of moss they have find up to 22,000 individuals.
Even a few meters away from you, in the gap between tile and tile. They are especially abundant in the film of moisture covering mosses and ferns, although there are oceanic and freshwater species, so we can consider they live anywhere in the world.
Tardigrades or water bears, are a group of invertebrates 0.05-1.5 mm long that preferably live in damp places. WHAT IS A TARDIGRADE? Water bear (Macrobiotus sapiens) in moss. Meet the animal that seems to come from another planet and learn to observe them in your home if you have a microscope. They are virtually indestructible invertebrates: they can survive decades without water or food, to extreme temperatures and they have even survived into outer space. Actually, they are not bears: water bears is the popular name of tardigrades. The smallest bears in the world have almost superhero abilities.
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