On our last week of observations I observed many of the same species that I have been observing the past four weeks. I have seen multiple annelid, paramecium, gastrotrich, and difflugia. The amoeba population, however, has gone down since last week. Last week I was able to observe quite a few, but this week I only saw one dead one. This could be a result of them hiding in water bubbles or a lack of food. This last week I was able to observe two new species. They were the homalozoon and the lembadion. The homalozoon is a ciliate with individual extrusomes that lie under the mouth. It was clear green with a distinguished central vacuole, and I almost mistakened it for a flatworm. The lembadion is a planktonic scuticocilate; it is scoop shaped and clear and its entire body is covered in flagella. One such instance I saw two lembadion who were connected most likely due to splitting. The source I used to identify these species was Free-living Fresh Water Protozoa by D. J. Patterson.

This week's observations I noticed many of the same species as I have in the past two weeks. I also had time to observe a few more species that I have not already documented. One aspect of my microaquarium that I have noticed is that I have not seen many dead organisms; everything seems to still be alive and well. The species that I observed again this week just like the past two weeks are the annelid, nematode, flatworm, and difflugia. I saw six difflugia, which are a brown, round sarcodinid; and i saw three annelids, which are worms. I only saw one flatworm and nematode, however.
The new species I observed this week were the gastrotricha, amoeba, and the paramecium. The gastrotricha has a clear, cylinder, worm-like body with a distinguishable head and tail. The head is round and covered in whisker-like hair, and it has two tails instead of one. I saw about ten of these when I was observing. The amoeba is a clear protist that appears very glob-like and moves using pseudopodia. I saw three amoeba while observing. The last new species that I observed was the paramecium. The paramecium is clear and tear-drop shaped with obvious food vacuoles and covered in cilia. I observed over twenty of these protists moving continuously throughout the microaquarium. The amoeba and the paramecium were identified using the source Free-living Freshwater Protozoa by D.J. Patterson. The gastrotricha was identified using the source Fresh Water Biology by Henry Ward and George Whipple.

I have noticed that in my microaquarium contains many worm species, such as the annelid photographed above. Last week i noticed one Turbellaria, better known as a flatworm. This week i observed three flatworms. I was able to confirm this analysis through my source Fresh Water Biology by Henry Ward and George Whipple. This week, however, unlike last week, I had more time in the lab and was able to observe many more species. Toward the bottom of the aquarium I was able to observe three different annelids. Specifically they were Aeolosoma. They were clear, long, and sectioned worms. Since they were clear I could see red dots in them, and I also was able to observe them digesting their food. I confirmed this analysis through the same source Fresh Water Biology. Other than worms I was able to notice three different species of protists. One was the Arcella which is a sarcodinid. It was a yellow type of amoeba that sat stationary in the water and had a very noticeable single central vacuole. I also noticed another type of sarcodinid called a actinosphaerium. It was clearish purple and had many hairs surrounding its body. Its body was round and multinucleated and was stationary in the water. The third type of protist I observed was a difflugia. This sarcodinid was brown, round, and stationary. It was also a type of amoeba. All these protists that I observed were confirmed using the source Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa by D.J. Patterson.

nano

On my first day viewing my microaquarium I noticed two particular species of organisms. I used water dish 2 and added plants A and B. I viewed many small, circular clear organisms that moved too quick to even study under a microscope. However, the two species that i were able to observe were a flatworm and a nematode. The flatworm, Turbellaria, was long and clearish green in color. It moved by contraction just like a land worm would and had a very distinctive head on it. The worm was multicellular. The second species that I was able to study was a nematode that was very fast moving. I was able to study it however because it kept itself anchored while it was feeding. It kept wriggling around but I was able to notice that it was also clearish green just like the tubeworm, and I ended up seeing at least three of the nematodes in my aquarium. It was also multicellular. I observed these on Friday the 24th of October.