Final Observation

For my final observation of the aquarium I was expecting a few things: 1. that it would be difficult to find new organisms; and 2. that my aquarium could be taken over by algae at this point. Neither of these suspicions were correct.
Because of the large amount of thine that passed between the observation and the set up of the aquarium, there was an increase in the algae that I found but was not so much that I could still see plenty of other organisms.

1. Calothrix sp.

 this pom-pom like structure makes the algae easier to identify when the entire structure is visible, but because it is more difficult to see if the branches are tapered or how they are connected, it took a bit more work to identify this organism. 

2. Cladaphora  sp. 

 this is a nice picture because you are able to see the branchings which helps to identify the organism. 

3. Coleochaete sp. 

This is the last of the algae that I recorded. Surprisingly I did not have a hard time finding these other organisms:

 4. Difflugia sp. 

                                              

This is my favorite picture because this isn't just one difflugia, but it is two going through sexual reproduction. The difflugia on the right has pushed its vacuole into the difflugia on the left. This creates a gamete in the difflugia on the left which will soon bring rise to several more difflugia. The vacuole to the difflugia on the right will soon return to its place and they will disconnect and search for more reproduction partners. 

  5. Nematoda 

This Nematoda was not very mobile, but it was interesting how it slithered through the water. 

6. Litocolla sp. 

 

This organism was the last one that I recorded. It is quite interesting as to how it gets its energy. All of the spike like objects surrounding the membrane act almost like a spider web. Fast moving organisms collide with the spikes and get wedged between them. When this happens the membrane opens and secretes a vacuole that encumbers the prey and then draws it back into the membrane where the prey is turned into energy. 

That is all that I have for my observations. I wish that I would have been able to observe more but sadly time is an issue. I am interested to see how long it takes for the aquarium to be taken over by algae since I can the the sudden increase of algae in the aquarium.