Hello all,

while climbing Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, my hiking party came across a stream coming from melting snow. I collected some of the water and later examined a sample under a microscope. Among a host of other microbes and giardia contamination, I found several star shaped microbes in the water. I cannot identify these microbes nor find any literature describing them. Anyone have an idea of what we're looking at here?

 

Picture taken at 60x magnification

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Superficially, it looks like some form of hydra. How large do you estimate it to be?

The center looks like a mite or water bear, could the "arms" be bleached algae skeletons being fed on by the mite/water bear at the center?

What Is the temperature that It Is at when the picture was taken?

the temperature was approximately 40 F and the organism is ~.25mm in size.

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The algae skeleton seems like a good bet.