Week Four: The Dark Ages

Probably due to some aspect of starvation my MicroAquarium seems to be decreasing in organisms. The once very numerous protozoa seem to be much less prominent, and are actually harder to find than normal. However, with death comes life. A growing number of philodina seem to attach themselves to almost every algal strip. Yet the number of philodina is nothing compared to the immense amount of difflugia (I actually spelled it "diphlusia" in previous entries. . . my bad). These difflugia are, no exaggeration, in basically every other frame of the microscope. Some of the difflugia may actually be centropyxis (1), but may be too immature to tell. These and only a few other new discoveries in the MicroAquarium lead me to my next point: I will post an extensive amount of pictures and descriptions!

This picture consists of three philodina. These rotifers are becoming a very common micro-organism in the slide.

This image is of an Amoeba radiosa. Its very interesting to watch the very large, and extensive protruding plasmodia feeling around for debris to engulf.

This image to the left is an example of the overgrowth of algal colonies.

To the right is an example of one of the difflugia. On the right side of the amoeba, a protruding plasmodia is seen. (I actually had a video of a difflugia to help better understand its movements, but, due to technical difficulties could not post it. Hopefully, that will change soon)

To the left is what I like to call "the graveyard." This, and much of the surrounding area, was filled with the dead and decaying shells of many of the organisms that were once so prominent in the slide.

This micro-organism to the right is a protozoa in the halteria order. The genus is known as a strobilidium (2). This and only one or two others were seen, so they are not incredibly abundant.

To the left is a peranema (3). At first glance, it looks related to a euglena. However, the distinction comes in the flagella's tip, which is crooked and rapidly waves, making the peranema motile.

Lastly, to the right is an unknown filamentous cyanobacteria. I attempted to locate it in the lab's resources, but could find exactly what it was. Hopefully, in the near future, I will be able to find it, or more, and put a name with a face.

(1) Patterson, D.J., Free Living Freshwater Protozoa, (London, 1992), fig. 184
(2) Patterson, fig. 365 or 366
(3) Patterson, p. 51