Week 3: Observations and New Life

This week was the first time observing the MicroAquarium since the food pellet was added. It was really easy to find a lot of life around where it was added and was dissolving at the top. Near and all through it there were many fattened nematodes and like almost everywhere there were lots of rotifers scampering around. There were some things seen this week that I for some reason had not seen yet.


First, there was a number of seed shrimp (Crustacea Ostracoda) that are about 8 to 10 times bigger than the rotifers. They didn't seem to prefer one area over another as I saw them in the silt, on the aquatic plants, and in open areas. They were really something to watch; as they moved like crabs along pieces of plant fibers, and hovered in the open pumping their legs like a tiny machine. Being able to see right through them it was really something to watch.


Also, last week, I somehow missed the largest small organism I believe I could have ever missed. The freshwater snails (Gastropoda) that were in the MicroAquarium were huge compared to most everything else. Still while being able to see through them they were able to contain enough pigment to where they appeared mostly like any snail you could find under a rock. It's shell was mostly see through as well, and because of its size I could see its heart pounding, its radula munching, and its organs pumping.

Sources:

Pennak, R. Fresh-Water Invertebrates: Protozoa to Mulluska. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; 1978

Ranis, K., Russel, B. Guide to Microlife. Houston: Children's Press(CT); 1996