Week two of my observation began with taking a picture of my MicroAquarium. The moss in the aquarium was relatively the same. There was a few dead looking strands off the main stalk and some black at the base of some of the leaves. Throughout the aquarium the water is clear with some algae growing. I looked at it once again with a microscope and witnessed a significant loss of Rotifers (there were still many just less than the first observation). Due to the loss of Rotifers they were not fighting or running into each other and they were not concentrated in any one area. This week I fed my Rotifers with fish food, this hopefully aid in their survival.
I was lucky to be able to snap a few pictures of my Rotifers, that turned out great might I add. While taking the pictures I discovered that I had Rotifers that were in the order, Bdelleida, the family of Philodinidea, and genus of Philodina according to a 1926 thesis on Spiral Swimming in the Rotifers by Frazier Cochane, Jr. I am not sure which species I have in my MicroAquarium. While snapping the numerous pictures I witnessed them contracting and “inchworming” there way around the aquarium. I saw one rotifer that almost seemed to be “grazing” (much like a cow does to eat) on some debris on the bottom of the aquarium. I am not sure if he was eating the debris or not but he was bobbing back and forth from it a lot. I also saw a rotifers gastric glands which at the time was contracting. I wonder if the rotifers could be different ages, because some of them were different sizes. In one of the photographs I was lucky enough to be able to witness both “heads” that contain the cilia. One of the Rotifers in which I got to photograph was rather odd looking. He or she had something protruding out of the side near its’ head. You can witness this in one of the photographs. I am not sure what this may be and plan to do further research on it.
During the second week, I furthered my research on the Rotifers and I discovered that generally they have a simple excretory system, circulatory system, and respiratory systems are lacking. The sexes of rotifers are separate, with the male being a minute, degenerate creature, lacking the alimentary canal. Rotifers can alternate reproduction between sexual or asexual means, depending on class and the environment. In the absence of males , reproduction is done by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis results in a clone of the parent, the offspring is genetically identical to the parent.
~Resources~
Cochrane, Frazier. Spiral Swimming in the Rotifers. Diss. University of TN, 1926.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotifer
I was lucky to be able to snap a few pictures of my Rotifers, that turned out great might I add. While taking the pictures I discovered that I had Rotifers that were in the order, Bdelleida, the family of Philodinidea, and genus of Philodina according to a 1926 thesis on Spiral Swimming in the Rotifers by Frazier Cochane, Jr. I am not sure which species I have in my MicroAquarium. While snapping the numerous pictures I witnessed them contracting and “inchworming” there way around the aquarium. I saw one rotifer that almost seemed to be “grazing” (much like a cow does to eat) on some debris on the bottom of the aquarium. I am not sure if he was eating the debris or not but he was bobbing back and forth from it a lot. I also saw a rotifers gastric glands which at the time was contracting. I wonder if the rotifers could be different ages, because some of them were different sizes. In one of the photographs I was lucky enough to be able to witness both “heads” that contain the cilia. One of the Rotifers in which I got to photograph was rather odd looking. He or she had something protruding out of the side near its’ head. You can witness this in one of the photographs. I am not sure what this may be and plan to do further research on it.
During the second week, I furthered my research on the Rotifers and I discovered that generally they have a simple excretory system, circulatory system, and respiratory systems are lacking. The sexes of rotifers are separate, with the male being a minute, degenerate creature, lacking the alimentary canal. Rotifers can alternate reproduction between sexual or asexual means, depending on class and the environment. In the absence of males , reproduction is done by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis results in a clone of the parent, the offspring is genetically identical to the parent.
~Resources~
Cochrane, Frazier. Spiral Swimming in the Rotifers. Diss. University of TN, 1926.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotifer
No comments:
Post a Comment