O californica Ossicle Photos

O californica ossicle photos taken under white light with auto exposure and (this was actually a faux pass on my part) with auto white balance, which negates any special fluorescing or refracting properties by making the tiny bones look white. Nonetheless, this gives you a good idea of what these ossicles look like under the microscope, although they aren't nearly as big when I am sorting them into different tubes.

Any bluriness is probably due to that part of the ossicle being out of focus. Since almost all the bones are 3-dimensional and by no means flat, so getting all of the ossicle in-focus at once is almost impossible at such high magnification levels.

An interesting view of a verterbrae

A pentagonal top...or bottom? shield

Another top (or bottom?) shield

A lateral shield. Note the ridges and hook shape

Under increasing levels of light, the ossicles' refractive properties become visible

Any bluriness at the edges or anywhere on the ossicle is most likely due to the fact that that part of the bone was out of focus since these ossicles are not flat by any means. In particular, the one above is shaped rather like a Pringle. Differing heights don't allow of the bone to come into focus at once.

Without the auto white balance, with an RGB of 1,1,1, this shield refracted green light (the color of a brittle star's luminescent arms). I need to take more pictures to confirm this however. This one makes for an interesting start though.