Week 4 Observations

This was the final week for lab observations and I was able to identify just a few more organisms one last time. This week especially, I noticed how much my micro aquarium has grown since we first started. My aquarium has expanded so much since the first week and in this process, I've tried to identify as many organisms as I could. My aquarium definitely has become more familiar which all the previous organism's I have identified I have started to repeatedly see them throughout.  

Image 1. This specific species of seed shrimp has been identified as a Darwinula which is further described in "Guide to Micro Life" by Kenneth G. Rainis on pg. 211 image 6. This was the only seed shrimp that I saw and it did not really move when I was observing it. 

Image 2. This organism has been identified as Cladophora which is further described in "The Freshwater Algae" by G.W. Prescott on pg. 132 Fig. 218. This organism was found by Professor McFarland in my micro aquarium and this was also another organism that did not have noticeable movement so initially I was not even sure if it was an organism or not.

Image 3. This organism is identified as Vorticella in "Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide" by D.J Patterson on pg. 113 Figure 232. I have seen quite a few Vorticella throughout my micro aquarium as they are easy to observe since there is not really movement among them.

Bibliography

Prescott, G.W. The Fresh-Water Algae. W.M.C Brown Company Publishers.

Rainis, Kenneth G., Russel, J. Bruce. Guide to Micro Life. Danbry, CT. A Division of Groller Publishing.

Week 3 Observations

Even after the third week, I am continuing to identify new organisms with the help of Professor McFarland. Im starting to see how diversitized my micro aquarium really is as there seem to be new organisms every week. I also keep seeing previous organisms that I have already identified but I continue to watch how they interact in the micro aquarium every week to see if they change their habits. 

Image 1. This organism is a Peranema which is further described in  Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide by D.J Patterson on pg. 51, figure 70. I did not see many of these organisms but I was able to easily spot it out as the Peranema moved at a steady pace so I was able to observe it. 

Image 2. This organism has been identified as an Epalxis which is further described in Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide by D.J Patterson on pg. 141, figure 311. This organism was hard to get a picture of (hence the blurry picture) as it moved around at a very abrupt and fast pace. Luckily I was able to get a picture, because if not I may not of had another chance in capturing the Epalxis.

Bibliography

(Both sources have already been cited in previous blogs)

Observations for Week 2

Week 2: This week Professor McFarland put a a fish food pellet from Atison's Betta Food (information below) into each micro aquarium and with this, I observed a lot of organisms around this food pellet and also was able to identify a few more new organisms. My micro aquarium is starting to become more familiar as I see a lot of the organisms that I identified last week all around the micro aquarium plus the ones I just identified. There were also a few more organisms that I found this week that I was unable to identify because they were either moving around the micro aquarium too fast or were hidden so I could not see enough  of the organism to be able to identify what it is. With this, I was still able to observe new things and the images below are what I found for this week.

"Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

Image 1. Identified organism is a Nematoda as found in Fresh-Water Invertebrates of The United States: Protozoa to Mollusca by Robert W. Pennak pg. 228 fig. 1. In this picture I was only able to get the posterior end of the Nemoda as it was swimming around very rapid and then its anterior end was hidden behind a leave for a while so I could only observe this aspect of the Nematoda.

Image 2. The Craspedacusta Sowerbyi was also identified in Fresh-water Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca by Robert W. Pennak pg. 116 fig 5.b. This was the only one I saw of this organism as professor McFarland told me it is a freshwater Jellyfish. There was no movement along with it as it is in one of its earlier developing stages so I am assuming that is why there was not a great amount of movement. The diagram in the book showed the stages of the Craspedacusta Sowerbyi's growth cycle and identified this organism in one of its earliest stages so hopefully I will be able to continue to watch it develop. 

Bibliography:

Pennak, Robert W. Fresh-Water  Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca. 3rd ed. A Wiley-interscience publication. 

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2014. [15 October 2014]. Available fromhttp://botany1112014.blogspot.com/