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TARDIGRADES are called 'water bears' because of their body shape. They have a head with (sometimes) one eye on either side and eight legs with ventral orientation, giving them a 'mammal-like' appearance. A feature unique in the animal kingdom are the two calcareous stilettos behind the mouth opening. They use it to pierce their food (moss cells, algae, other small animals) before sucking it out. There are maybe 800 species living in mosses, soil, freshwater and the sea. In mosses you can find two different types: the 'soft' eutardigrades, that are moving much 'faster' than the heterotardigrades. The latter are armoured with body plates and bear head appendages. The size of tardigrades is ususally between 0.15 to 0.8 mm. In some genera the different species can be separated best by their ornamented eggs. Below you can see a few examples. |
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| some links: | http://www.reed.edu/~vvichit/tardigrade.html http://bj.portlandpress.co.uk/books/isbn/1855780437.htm another fascinating bear shaped organism |