The Mighty Mite
I remember as a (slightly abnormal) kid collecting firecracker packs having a pack called ‘Mighty Mite’. At the time, it never really occurred to me what a ‘mite’ was – I just collected the pack.
It isn’t difficult to find mites whenever taking macro shots. They are everywhere and you really just have to turn over a leaf that is decaying on the ground to find one. Photographing one, though. Well that’s a different story.
Complicating getting a good photo of one of these little buggers are two things.
1) They are extremely small. The shot above was taken at 5x – and even then I cropped it.
2) They move rather quickly and do not sit still
About a week ago, though, after not finding much anything else to photograph that day, I decided to take my chances.
I spent a good twenty minutes tracking this little mite as it wandered across this leaf. Most of my shots were blurry – it isn’t easy tracking something at 5x – but unlike past attempts I kept at it and got some decent ones.
Of course, I have absolutely no idea what species this is. As there are over 45,000 described species of mites and scientists estimate this makes up about 5% of the total species out there, I’m not going to try very hard to figure it out. Mites are arachnids – just like spiders. However, they’re not spiders – but are related.
Another interesting fact is that one of the strongest animals on earth is a mite. It can carry 1182 times its own weight. I did a quick search on what that would mean, and it’s roughly equivalent to one of us picking up this boat. Remind me if I’m ever reincarnated as something extremely small, to not mess with a mite.
Of course, most of us know mites as garden pests or waste bin pests. I doubt this particular one is of any concern as I found it by a trail near my office. I strongly suspect that these particular mites have a big part in the decomposition of leaves and creation of soil. In that respect, they’re probably partners (or predators) of our friend the springtail.
So what are the lessons I learned from my little pal the mite? Well, for one when faced with a difficult subject – take lots of shots. Also, just because something is difficult doesn’t mean with some patience it’s not possible. I had numerous opportunities to photograph these in the past, but didn’t bother to have the patience until now.
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Tags: arachnid, macro, mite, patience, photography