The last entry. I was fairly unimpressed again with the initial viewing of my microaquarium again this week. Other than a growth in the amount of algae that was able to be seen, I wasn't able to find many organisms. Even the simple single celled organisms from last week were almost non existent now. I spent a long time searching until I was able to find this creature.
This little guy, is another rotifer named Philodina. Philodina has a large jaw, with at first glance seemed to bee rotating and gyrating teeth, as well as a gullet, which is used to crush the bacteria and smaller organisms that it feeds on. (Raven, 2010)
Initially, I was "tripping balls" when I saw this creature, just imagining that scene from the 1990's movie Tremors, where that one guy was trying to hide on top of the tire, and the Graboid was like WRONG MOVE SON.
Another organism which was prevalent in more than one area of this MicroAquarium was the Actinophrys. Actinophrys is a small, unicellular organism, with arms protuding all the way through and out of its body, that help it consume other flagellates and protozoa. (Patterson, 2009)
Overall, this MicroAquarium has proven, I am sorry to say, less than a perfect specimen for all of the thousands of micro organism that exist in freshwater. However, this experiment was of great personal significance to me, as it helped me feel closer to the world of science and microbiology than I ever have before.
This is your captain, Andrew J. Hogan, signing off. God speed, gentleman.
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