Day 2 Observations

Hello readers! I know you have been anxiously waiting for my next entry; and I am delighted to inform you that your wait is over! I went in today to make my next rounds of observations and I saw some very interesting sights. First thing I noticed was that there were a few air bubbles that had shown up since last week. Also there was a bit of plant deterioration, this may have been from the micro organisms that I saw on them, it looked as if they were eating the plant. I observed what I believe is  Daphnia which is a small aquatic crustacean which is also referred to as "water fleas". Below is a picture that I found off the internet of a Daphnia.

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Here is the URL for the site where I found the picture (http://cfb.unh.edu/cfbkey/html/Organisms/CCladocera/FDaphnidae/GDaphnia/Daphnia_rosea/daphniarosea.html).

I also noticed that some of the dirt that I had put at the bottom of the container had gone away. This was the result of an Annelid, which is a small worm that was moving through the dirt and eating it. I also noticed that there were a lot of loose fibers floating around in the free space in the tank. Also i saw a small rotifer which I later learned was a Philodina and it was just sifting through the water looking for nutrients. To the right are the spores that the Daphnia release to reproduce! (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2043/)