11/10

Today, after the first 10 minutes of studying my micro-aquarium, I almost came to the conclusion that all the contained organisms had died. There was very little movement, and the organisms I could identify appeared suspended. Of these still organisms were clusters of cyanobacteria (top, left), diatoms, colonial chlorophyta, a dormant nematode (top, right)and rotifer (bottom), and different types of green algae.

However, after readjusting my microscope and searching again, I found the rotifers more active than before, and they seemed to have abundantly multiplied. Most appeared in frantic movement, spiralling through the water; although some were stabilizing themselves by penetrating various surfaces with their "toe" (the unknown rotifer-appendage discussed in my previous entry). I did manage to get a good shot of a flatworm and followed it's movements for nearly five minutes.

Surprisingly the most interesting creature I observed was a type of diatom (below). I say "surprisingly" interesting because the diatoms I observed were lifeless (diatoms are unicellular algae in silica shells). I found them incredible, simply because if they had been present, they had gone entirely unnoticed in my other observations.

This is one of the reasons today's observation was so interesting; though certain organisms seemed innactive, their booming population growth was outstanding!