Friday, October 24, 2008

Observation #1

My MicroAquarium hosts a number of exciting creatures that I am thrilled to learn more about! My water sample was taken from dish #4:
4. Horse Farm Pond, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. Tennessee Partial shade exposure Well Feed Pond N36 00.431 W83 41.767 1069 ft 10/12/2008
And it also contains both plants A:

A. Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure. N 36o02' 15.18" W083o55' 59.95"988 ft. 10/13/2008

And B:
B. Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering Plant. A carnivous plant. Collection from: Greenhouse in White Ave Biology Annex. The University of Tennessee. 1400 White Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.Partial shade exposure N 35o57' 33.45" W083o55' 42.01". 932 ft 10/13/2008
Viewing the Aquarium with my naked eye, I immediately saw a tiny organism that was jumping up and down from the bottom, as if to say "Hey! Look at me!" As I have done a little research, I have a feeling it is a cyclops. I will have to confirm that as I continue to look at my aquarium. It has what looked like two antennae protruding from it's front, and I could see straight through it. It looked like it was convulsing or something. The photograph that I have at the top of my page shows a striking resemblence to the creature I saw. I took the photograph off of www.micrographia.com. I saw only two other organisms, both were somewhat round/oval/egg shaped. One of them was moving around and looked like it was doing somersaults.

That's about all I know right now...but I'm excited to discover more!