There were a lot more organisms on my most recent visit to the lab, so many that I couldn't take the time to name them all! The very first thing I noticed when I placed my aquarium under the microscope (before I even turned on the light) was a little organism swimming very fast through the water. I could SEE this thing with my eye, so I knew it was something cool. It was really hard to get a picture because as soon as I'd get the lens focused it would swim away! However, I did manage to snap a decent shot. Figure 1 is an image of Tachysoma (Patterson 1996). I don't remember exactly what family this organism falls into, but I think Dr. McFarland mentioned that it might be a Cyclops. As it turns out, the one I took a picture of was undergoing cell division. I also identified an organism called Peranema, viewable in Figure 2 (Patterson 1996). It is a Euglenid. These types of organisms have flagella that flap and move them forward. There were more of these, but most of them were very very tiny (They were small on the 40 objective). The only other organism that I identified on my last visit was called Nostoc (Lund 1995). It's body has little notches between cells, and it slowly swims through the water. These organisms usually live in colonies made of filaments that form a gelatinous sheath around them, but this one, shown in Figure 3, was alone. My guess is that I will see some of these algae colonies in the near future.
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| Figure 1. Tachyosoma (Patterson 1996, Fig. 264-265). |
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| Figure 2. Paranema (Patterson 1996, Fig. 70-72). |
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| Figure 3. Nostoc (Lund 1995, Fig. 445-447). |
Sources:
Lund, J.W.G. 1995.
Freshwater Algae: Their Microscopic World Explored. England: Biopress Limited. 234 p. Fig.445-447
Patterson, D.J. 1996.
Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. London (England): ASM Press. 51 p. Fig. 70-72.
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