Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Final Observations

Algae seems to have taken over my tank.  It makes it difficult to view everything I could see once before.  There seems to be some green organisms moving around, which after discussing with other students, I learned are Parameciums that had sucked up the green algae somehow.  I suspect either:

a.  They use it for nutrients
b.  They use it for camouflage   


Either way, it's pretty cool.  New species of organisms seem to dominate every time I come back to view my aquarium.  One species in particular is well suited for my tank; the Cyclopes.  I find them to come in all sizes.  It took me a little digging around on the internet to find out why some of my cyclops looking organisms didn't have the distinguishing feature others had; two large sacs that hang off the back end of the body.

I finally came to the conclusion, through research, that I was observing male and females of the species.  The males do not have the sacs because they don't carry eggs like the females (and the sacs is where they are carried).  Also, the males have one extra limb which is used to grip the female during mating.

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