Fish Gotta Have Rotifers

FREDERICK, Md., Aug. 18 -- Syncroscopy, a Frederick, Md.-based developer of digital imaging products for microscopy applications, announced that the Academy of Natural Sciences has used its Auto-Montage 3-D imaging software to produce a CD containing images of more than 700 species plates of rotifers, multicelled animals that live in water and transform organic matter into protein.

The rotifer Pseudoploesoma formosum ANSP 297 (Photo courtesy The Academy of Natural Sciences)

Without rotifers, fish cannot survive, and the presence of some species is a good biomarker of the ecological health of rivers and lakes -- which makes identifying species correctly so important, Syncroscopy said.

The Frank J. Myers Rotifera Collection contains 744 images of rotifer species on slides; Syncroscopy said it is the largest virtual collection of images of this animal group.

Syncroscopy makes digital imaging products that extend the capabilities of optical microscopes. In addition to Auto-Montage, which produces infinite depth of focus images and has 3-D modelling and measurement features, it makes software for image stitching of large sample images and an automated system that attaches to digital microscopes to allow high-speed sample scanning and precise image stitching. It is a division of the Synoptics Group, based in Cambridge, England. The group's other divisions, Syngene and Synbiosis, specialize in digital imaging solutions for molecular biology and microbial applications, respectively.

For more information, visit: www.syncroscopy.com