The Secret Life of Bugs:
Nicknames
A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet
by Natalie Walton, Aquafix Microscopist
We all know nicknames can stem from many different things, whether it be a funny or embarrassing situation that your friends don’t let you live down, the food you eat in excess, or what your sister called you when she was young before she could properly say your name; the meanings behind these names can be endless. But did you know there are wastewater organisms that have nicknames?
Tardigrade
The organism with more than one nickname and probably the best known is the tardigrade. Tardigrades have been nicknamed water bears and moss piglets, but why? The first part of both names is relatively self-explanatory, they can be found in water and moss. So, the first part of the names makes sense, but why bear and piglet, those animals look nothing alike. Well, before an Italian biologist gave tardigrades their name in 1777, Johanna August Ephriam Goeze described them as “Kleiner Wasserbär” in 1773 which is German for “little water bear” because the way tardigrades walked reminded him of a bear’s gait. The reasoning behind piglet, on the other hand, is not as well documented but is likely more to do with their similarity in appearance; In particular, the mouth of a tardigrade resembling the snout of a pig.
Crawling Ciliate
While tardigrades are the only organism with a detailed history behind their nickname, they are not the only ones to hold a special name. Crawling ciliates have been nicknamed “The Cows of Wastewater,” but why? Surely if any organism in wastewater were to have that name it would be the testate amoebas because of how their pseudopodia resemble a cow’s udders! Well, unlike tardigrades the meaning behind this nickname is not based on appearance, but rather function. Crawling ciliates graze on the edges of floc, helping create compact structures similar to how cows graze on grass. While being called a cow is not most people’s ideal situation, the last organism I will talk about may have it worse – depending on whom you ask.
Flagellates
Flagellates have been flagged as ambulance chasers. Now that nickname is unique and not necessarily that self-explanatory, right? Flagellates landed this nickname due to their behavior. While these guys are often present in a young microbial sludge age, they will also show up relatively soon after a wastewater system has experienced an upset, thus earning their nickname of ambulance chaser.
So, next time you are looking to cause a little mischief at work tell your coworkers/boss after looking at a sample of your plant that you’ve got a lot of cows and ambulance chasers in your system that day and watch their eyebrows knit together in confusion. Then, feel free to send them this blog as an explanation or simply walk away to leave them wondering.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next edition of Secret Life of Bugs.
Want to learn even more about rotifers and gastrotrichs? Then check them out on our online microorganism database at https://teamaquafix.com/identifying-wastewater-microorganisms/
About the Author
Natalie Walton joined Aquafix in 2019 and focuses on performing microscopic analysis for customer samples, as well as conducting experiments on innovation in grease removal. She was also a key contributor to creating our Microorganisms Database supplying identification tips and research.