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.