Mexican Moss

[Salamastre]

Hello, this is my first post here. I want to show you pictures of mosses collected in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. My camera skills suck, sorry.

I collected 11 different looking mosses, and only these 2 show growth submersed. I don't know if it is too soon, but i feel happy and excited.

The other 9 mosses, 3 survive in a terrarium, the other 6 could not take the heat or something, and died.

These are the pictures:

You can see the new growth in the triangular piece on the right. This piece has no clay attached, it has grown purely submersed.


In this image, on the lower right corner you see the moss from the previous pictures, a little out of focus, but you can see the brighter growing tips. And you can also see new growth from the other moss, the vertical strands in the centre of the picture.

As you can see, I have very small samples, and i really wish and hope that they will grow and propagate.

I can share tiny samples if anyone is interested.

[stormhawk]

Salamastre, its nice to know that we have people from Central America visiting this forum. If you could, please introduce yourself and sign off with your real name.

Your camera skills are decent enough and I'm hoping to see what shapes the mosses will take when they are grown submersed.

[Salamastre]

Ok, I edited my profile, even tough if you do a search by Salamastre you will find a lot more than if yo use my given name.

I collected the moss at a latitude of 22º N, the same as Calcutta and Hong Kong, at an altitude of about 2000 meters. I am also very interested to see the shape they will get.

I have a question, I own an old microscope, that can give 10x, 40x and 100x magnification (it is a pain to use the 100x, you need a perfectly prepared sample and a drop of oil). Does anyone know how to use a regular camera (I own a 1978 Canon SLR with a 50mm) to make microphotography?


Two posts only and I am already ranting
One of my very few pet peeves is the common belief that Mexico is in South or Central America. If one looks at a map, Mexico is clearly in North America, with 100% of its territory north of the equator, and just the southernmost states forming part of Central America. (So far away from God, so close to the USA, lamented a mexican writer).

Sorry for the rant, will not happen again.

[stormhawk]

Espinoza,

My apologies on the geographical error. You're right, Mexico is part of North America. We tend to lump Mexico together with Central American states.

I can't help much on the microphotography bit. Maybe Ronnie or perhaps Wright might know better.

[Green Baron]

Espinoza,
You will need to let the mosses grow a bit more before we can ID it.
From your photo, the 1st moss is most likely a Vesicularia species.
The 2nd moss looks like Leptodictyon riparium aka Stringy Moss.

Send it to Kwek Leong once they have established and we will try to have it ID.

[imported_kenny]

Espinoza,
You will need to let the mosses grow a bit more before we can ID it.
From your photo, the 1st moss is most likely a Vesicularia species.
The 2nd moss looks like Leptodictyon riparium aka Stringy Moss.

Send it to Kwek Leong once they have established and we will try to have it ID.

I think the 2 photos above shows the same moss, taken at different times.
The 1st is a "before" and the 2nd one is the "after" photo.

Espinoza, can you clarify ?

By the way, I too collected 3 types of moss (or mosses?) around my area, but only one seems to be growing (very slowly). Wish both of us good luck !

[timebomb]

Salamastre,

First of all, welcome to the forum. At your suggestion, I googled your name. You're obviously very keen on aquatic plants. But if its mosses you want to know more about, this is the right place to be We prefer to address forum users by their real names but if you rather we call you "Salamastre", that's okay with us too.

I'm not sure about microphotography but the last time I shot some micro pictures with my digital camera, I simply put the lens over the microscope's eyepiece. The pictures turned out quite well. Here's one:



If you're sending more than one moss to me, it's important you label them. Were they found in the same location? If not, it's important that you tell us where. Did the mosses come with sporophytes? If they are there, please include some when you mail them. Please also, if you can, send a bit more than just tiny samples. This is because the professor files all mosses sent to him in envelopes for future reference. If it's just a tiny frond or 2, there may not be enough of the moss for referencing.

I saw some of your pictures in "The Planted Tank" forum. If you're tying mosses to rocks, it's important to spread them apart and not tie one frond over another. Over here, we usually use fishing line.

How's the temperature in your tanks like in Mexico? As your mosses were taken from high altitudes, chances are they need low temperatures to grow well.

Loh K L

[Salamastre]

Thanks for the replies and for your welcome.

Kenny: The pictures 1 and two were taken the same day.
If you look closely, you will see that both kinds of mosses are tied to the same rock, in one picture I focused the foreground, and in the other i focused the background.

Loh KL: I sent you a PM, the sample I can send you includes several fronds, and I can always send more when the mosses grow.

Thanks for the advise on tying the moss, it seems i did a sloppy job I like to use cotton thread instead of fishing line because with time the cotton thread starts disintegrating, and i can remove it easily when the moss has attached itself to the rock.

Your microscope picture look very good. Is that quality of picture good enough for doing an ID? I have read most of the moss articles I have been able to find, and they rarely include microscope pictures.

In guadalajara, altitude 1,600 M, the worst summer days can be 35º C, but just for a couple of days, the worst winter nights I gets to 2º C. I do not heat or chill my tanks, and they go from 19ºC in the coldest days to 27ºC on the warmest. Right now they are at 23ºC.

Thanks everyone, I am happy to have found other people so interested in mosses. This encourages me to do more collecting

[chicknb]

Fernando, it is good to see another mexican here. I am happy that you are collecting mosses (and I guess aquatic plants) in Mexico. If you suceed with the mosses I will be more than happy to receive some of them for my tanks (if you believe they can survive in my tanks - 25º C, pH= 6.7). In any case good luck with the mosses and if you want to raise some killis let me know to see if we can find a way to ship them to you (I live in Mexico City).

Saludos,

Tony

[SnyperP]

Welcome to the board! As with many other people on this board, if you sucessfully propagate the mosses submersed I'd love to swap a few fronds of mosses with you!

[timebomb]

Loh KL: I sent you a PM, the sample I can send you includes several fronds, and I can always send more when the mosses grow.

Thanks. I'll let you know as soon as the mosses arrive.

I like to use cotton thread instead of fishing line because with time the cotton thread starts disintegrating, and i can remove it easily when the moss has attached itself to the rock.

Most of our aquarium mosses do not attach themselves to rocks, Salamastre. To do this, the moss has to have rhizoids, hair-like roots. As far as I know, only the Java Moss attaches to rocks well. A rough surface helps. Taiwan Moss can also attach itself to rocks but they don't cling as well as Java does.

Your microscope picture look very good. Is that quality of picture good enough for doing an ID? I have read most of the moss articles I have been able to find, and they rarely include microscope pictures.

The microscope picture shown in this thread isn't good enough for ID purposes. It has to be in much greater magnification before it can be of any use to the professor. He needs to know the shape and size of the cells and also the outline of the leaves.

Thanks everyone, I am happy to have found other people so interested in mosses. This encourages me to do more collecting

You're in good company, Salamastre. Over here is where the moss lovers gather

Loh K L

[Salamastre]

LKL, i seem to have made a mistake with my PMs, I can no find my previous messages, send me a mail at commodore64 @ gmail.com with your address, i could mail tomorrow.

Thanks for letting me know about the mosses not attaching to rock, I'll change the thread on my other asian mosses. I know mi picture here are too far away and blurry, but the 'erect' strand on the first picture shows some rhizoinds, i actually had to scrape that piece of moss off a piece of concrete with a knife.