October 22

The very first thing I noticed today looked to me like a stingray, unfortunately it moved very quickly and it was gone before I could get a good look. I searched a while for this organism but was unable to spot it again. Next I saw several almost vace shaped organisms that had two spinning pump like structures that appeared to be forcing water through itself. I believe this organism which Dr. McFarland identified as a rotifer was filtering some sort of food or nutrients out of the surrounding water like some whales filter plankton out of the ocean. I was able to determine the identity of a rod shaped organism using the book Free Living Freshwater Protozoa by D. J. Patterson. The organism called a Tachysoma was rod shaped with flagella like projections visible at the head and tail ends, there was also a clearly defined vacuole in the center of the Tachysoma. I was also able to identify the worm like organism I mentioned in the first blog using the book Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States by Robert W. Pennak. The worm like organism called a Gastrotricha is able to bend its body and has two toe-like projections coming out of the rear. In an attempt to get a very closeup look at this organism I switched to the 40x objective and almost immediately cracked the glass on the front of my microaquarium. I was able to transfer most of the water and both plants into a new microaquarium, however I did have to add a little extra water from a different source. The water I added was from source # 13.13. Plastic Bird Bath pool . 0.9 mile from Fountain City Pond on Fountain Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure N 36o02.249' W083o55.999' 1121 ft 10/12/2009 i also added a food pellet at the end of my observations. "Atison's Betta Food" is made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

References:

Patterson, D.J. (1996). Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. London: John Wiley & Sons Inc. p.125 fig. 264 & 265

Pennak, R. W. (1989). Fresh-water invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to mollusca. New York: Wiley.