Macro organisms have developed in high numbers. I now have a hefty population of Cyclops of all sizes. Have not yet seen egg-bearing females with the distinctive sacks next to their tail but I am sure they will appear.
Catching this guy in the pipette and transferring him to a slide without losing, killing or otherwise maiming him was quite a challenge. Illumination is from above, so the eye would show nice and red.
The round organism below is Coleochaetales, and there appears to be an agglomeration of eggs (?) right above. On the left, a rotifer is stuck next to an air bubble.
Upon inspecting the algae in the jar I noticed a slimy blob attached to a stem, of a slightly darker colour and clearly not part of the plant. It was a bunch of fully formed snails still in the membrane of where the eggs developed.
So here are some snails hatching:
And something unexpected – a travelling wave of bacteria (?). Rotifers and other cilliates happily feasted on them.
I have to find a way to re-visit the same sample. For example the eggs below will probably hatch – if they haven’t already – and I have no way of knowing what organism it was.
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