Week #5

I observed dozens of the Dileptus I first saw last week. They outnumber pretty much every other organism in my MicroAquarium at this point, even the rotifers, which up until now had been the most prevalent residents. I saw a few Vorticella and Halteria, but their numbers appeared to have decreased. The diversity of the environment seems to have diminished since last week. Also, for the first time this week, I observed an organism large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Under the microscope, I viewed a long, segmented creature, with multiple cilia and a long proboscis. It moved very quickly, and it was difficult to get a good look at the organism at first, which led me to wonder if maybe this organism was sensitive to light. Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States (Douglas Grant Smith) identified this organism as the Annelid Stylaria.