Third Observation

At the end of my previous research time I had added a piece of food to my micro aquarium. I was pleased to see that there was much more action in my aquarium. The first thing i noticed was many spots of yellow-brown algae placed all throughout the aquarium. There were also many floating blob-like figures. I learned that these organisms were Amoebas, which are single-celled protozoans that constantly change shape. While looking at the various Amoebas I found an organism swimming around with flagella on the front and back of it. I researched and found out that it was a flagellate known as Anisonema, which is a free living freshwater Protozoan that has 2 prominent flagella with one beating normally while the other drags behind. Surrounding the area that this organism was swimming in were many pill shaped structures. They were littered all over the aquarium, so i decided to see what these things were. I found out they were diatoms which are part of a major group of eukaryotic algae. They are one of the most common types of phytoplankton and live in colonies which explained why they were placed in groups throughout my project. The next organism I found was a very interesting looking subject with what looked like horns on the front. It was a Gastrotrich which is any of the microscopic, multicellular animals of the class or phylum Gastrotricha, of fresh or salt waters, characterized by bands of cilia and by a protruding feeding apparatus at the mouth. Right next to it I saw a heliozoan; a protozoan of the order Heliozoa that has a spherical body and radiating pseudopods. I did not see any larger living organisms on this research day, but was able to see the skeletons of some of the previous seed shrimp. It was overall an interesting day of research and hope to discover more on my next day of research.