Journey to the Microcosmos is a YouTube channel we were recommended and after watching a few videos, we are so glad it exists. Its video microscopy but with high production values, easy to understand information, and features the kind of stuff we want to see up real close, like reef life. The last three videos have been created after James, the microscope guy, bought a coral online and decided to take a look at what else traveled with it. No parasites, Brown Jelly or anything like that, it’s not that kind of video, but instead, it took him on a journey to find dinoflagellates inside coral tissue and inspect detritivores like Bristleworms at 100 times magnification.
Step back a few more videos and you get to see other things that we reefers talk about a lot, like algae, bacteria, ciliates, diatoms, and the veritable safari that is happening in every droplet of debris on our filter media, or in our sumps. Watch an Amoeba eating Cyanobacteria and get to see up close exactly what happens when a ciliate dies. It’s colorful and hypnotic in its format and it makes us want to buy a powerful microscope and get searching for life post-haste.
It shows that the ugliest of nuisance algae can be beautiful up close, vital to life as we know it, but also has its own problems like predators and parasites and faces its own epic battles for survival before we take to it with potions and products to try to kill it all off.
Microcosmos is a good name too as watch up close and you’ll see the colors in the micro-universe, and organisms floating around and bumping into each other. As reefkeepers we are observation specialists but can also be prone to boredom with our own tanks and even our livestock. The next time you’re bored, either invest in a microscope of your own or sit back, flick on this YouTube channel, and absorb the enlightenment.
