Week 5 Observation (November 18th 2014)

I did not observe my aquarium last week so this observation was made a little over a week after my previous one. There seemed to be lots of life in my aquarium once again this week, and after focusing the microscope, I immediately observed a very large nematode. The nematode was larger than any I'd seen in the weeks previous and was moving around very quickly. I also identified two new organisms I have not seen before. Figure 1 is a  Coleochaete irregularis or green algae (Forest 89). The second organism I identified (figure 2) is a Limnias sp. which is a type of rotifer (Patterson and Hedley 216). The Limnias appeared to be enclosed in a shell attached to a plant stalk. As I watched, it swiveled around in it's shell a few times and seemed to be sucking in tiny pieces of food in the water around it.

Figure 1: Coleochaete irregularis (green algae)

Forest, Herman Silva. Handbook of Algae. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1954. Print.

Figure 2: Limnias sp.

Patterson, David J., and Stuart Hedley. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide. London: Wolfe, 1992. Print.