Thursday, November 4, 2010

Observation: 2 November 2010

Today during my observation I saw a very active ecosystem. There are more organisms than last time I did an observation, and the organisms that are there are larger as well. The rotifers in particular have gotten quite fat. There is a lot more filamentous algae, and it is mostly concentrated towards the surface of the water. I also noticed seed shrimp for the first time, and in fact there are at least a half dozen of them. Here is a video I took of one feeding:



Smith D G. 2001. Pennak's freshwater invertebrates of the United States. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 648 p.

While I was looking for one of these seed shrimp with the camera microscope, I also noticed a very strange organism. He had very obvious hair and legs and was not transparent like most of the other inhabitants. I discovered that this was a water mite, which is a member of Hydrachnidae:


Rainis KJ, Russell BJ. 1996. Guide to microlife. Danbury, CT: Franklin Watts. 288 p.


I also found more annelid worms, but was unable to capture the new ones in a picture or video.

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