MicroAquarium viewing # 2

On October 21, 2008 I observed my micro aquaium for a second time, this time in disbelief in the amount of life that seemed to have just spontaniously appeared from a little water and sediment. The first organism that I oberserved, and which seemed to have grown twice the size, was an insect larve that appeared to be a midge (Pennak 628-666). There were several others that I came across in the sediment and along the walls that were sorting through the organic matter and eating anything that got in there way. After some research I found that they like to hide in the debris in water becasue they feel safe there. The next organism that I observed which seemed to have reproduced into a great number, was a Sarcodinid called Actinoshaerium (Pennak 56-57). This organism moves with the use of many flagella that surround its round body, resembling a sea anemia with all there tiny little spikes projecting outward. The body of the Actinoshaerium looked like a tiny dot of oil with debris in, which was it's cytoplasm and organelles. I observed many different types of cyanobacteria or otherwise known as blue green algae, such as lyngbya, merismopedia, and oscillatoria. The lyngbya looks a lot like oscillatoria, but has clear segments in it that have a membrane tube srurrounding them. The oscillatori that I observed were long with rectangular looking cells that were all conected. I only found a spall patch of merismopedi groing on the glass. These were very interesting because they grew in a grid-like pattern. I also veiwed a crustacean that is an arthropoda called a copepod(Pennak 324-409) . Its body resembles that of a horseshoe crab with a tail that splits at the end. The copepod was eating the the cyanobacteria oscillatoria along with some other orgaisms that I have not yet been able to identify. I also viewed a ciliate named dileptus and a pseudopodia called an amoeba that was engulfing organic debris and very small orgaisms through the process of phagocytosis(Pennak 54-62). It is hard to distinguish the amoeba becasue it looks like blob that moves very slow. It has arm like projections that stretch out and pull itself along for movemnet. This observation of the microaquarium was much more intersting than the first viewing becasue the life in the aquairum had seemed to grow exponentially.

Refenceses:
Pennak, Robert. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States. New Tork: The Ronald Press
Company, 1953.

Start up of MicroAquarium

Creating a microaquarium was very interesting and very simple. I obtained water from dish two, which was from the French Braod River, some sediment, and two small masses of algea from dish two along with a few small peices of plant B. Immediately after setting the tank up and letting the sediment settle to the bottum I observed it under the microscope at 400x magnification. The first organisims that I noticed were parameciums and very small single celled oragnisims that wirled in circles and others zooming past the observing area with great speed. I also noticed two nematodes which looked like transparent worms wiggling through the sediment at the bottum of the tank. There were some stationary green organisms which I hypothised contained chloroiphyl. Probably the most interesting of the organisms that I oberserved was the rotifer which was stationary on plant B filter feeding, with what looked like two spinning propellers the spun very fast (Donner 1-71 ). It sucked debris toward and pushed some away with the propellers and ungulfed, what it prefered as food, into what looked like its mouth. The particles that it engulfed could be seen through its transparent body whirling around in its insides. This orgamism intriuged me very much and I'm sure it did and will to anyone else who veiws it in there aquarium.

Reference:
Donner, Josef. Rotifers. New York: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd, 1966.