growing and growing

October 30, 2009

My first observation today of my MicroAquarium today was that the seed shrimp have very methodically consumed many of the leaves of the fern. It was interesting to see how they worked back and forth on the inside of the leaf, almost like humans eat corn.
I also was able to see two or three new organisms. My favorite is the philodina or rotifer. This pseudocoelomate animal has a very impressive feeding mechanism and even more impressive defense mechanism. When I tap the slide with the end of my pen, the rotifer withdraws the head and feeding tools and almost all motion stops. The head of the rotifer has two sets of saw like discs that are covered with cilia. As these saw like jaws rotate, they create a vortex drawing in their food as they filter water. They are capable of filtering nearly 100,000 times their own volume per hour! This organism is sometimes used to clean fish tanks and clear the water of dead material and algae. Also, a Daphnia was growing my MicroAquarium. Daphnia is a very small aquatic crustacean that I know little about. I also saw a worm like structure that was very interesting but also very hard to follow. It was not flagelated, and its motion was sporadic. This organism had a hinged jaw and a tail with what looked to be cilia. It would move at a relatively quick clip and then, unprovoked, to into a total spasm. It was fun to watch and chase. I have taken little note of the vegetation and plan on trying to identify the algae and other plant life more clearly in the future. Perhaps next week I can get a video or at least a picture or two. I have uploaded pictures of the rotifer from the web.