November 10
(FIND SOURCES AT BOTTOM OF BLOG IN BIBLIOGRAPHY POST)

My final week of observations saw little change in many of the forms of life except for the huge growth of diatoms. The population of Seed shrimp continued to grow, alongside rotifers and cyclops. I observed more plant growth in the aquarium this week as well.

A list of the things I observed this week:

-Seed shrimp continue to be the most populous crustacean in the aquarium. I counted ten this week.



Photo reference: Seed-shrimp [updated 2003]

-The cyclops population remains pretty stable. I observed about 5.

Photo reference: Morgan [updated 1996]

-I spotted one nematoad swimming around in the debris at the bottom of the aquarium.
-I observed six more rotifers in the open water, and one more jelly tube rotifer on a piece of plant fiber.
-A gigantic amount, possibly thousands, of gold, pill-shaped diatoms populating the open water of the aquarium.



-The diatoms were gold colored and mostly free floating, with some clusters scattered about in a few places. They are an oval, pill shape which after further investigation led me to believe that they belonged to Cyclotella badonica (Vinyard 1979). However Dr. McFarland and I were unable to confirm this and the diatom remains unidentified. Photo reference: Vinyard 1979