Nov. 9 2010

       I observed a couple round shaped protozoa today, and while similar in appearance, they displayed very unique habits.  The first one was Raphidocystis which was fairly slow moving and put forth very little effort for movement (Patterson 1996).

       The other organism displayed movement by using its silia to seemingly crawl around.  I also witnessed active predation performed by this organism.  I found out that this protist was Actinophrys (Patterson 1996).

       The primary difference between the two is how their flagella and sillia operate.  While Actinophyrus used its appendages for movement in a crawling like motion, the other maintained very static and visibly immobile arms and legs.  Witnessing Actinophyrus actively find and eat smaller organisms was fascinating by how quickly it was able to move, especially in comparison to its contemporary.

       Life in general appears to be more abundant than ever within the micro-aquarium with more new species observed every time.

Bibliography:
Patterson DJ.  1996.  Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa.  London:  Manson Publishing, Ltd.