Final Observations

On Friday, November 16th I made my final observation of the Normandy. Surprisingly, my tank was still very active. I did not expect to see so much activity within my tank at this point, as many of the organisms should no longer have had a food source. About one-third of the water in the tank had evaporated since my last observation. I observed 5 nematodes, which I recognized due to a unit in another class. One of the nematodes was trapped within some debris. A water mold had also grown at the bottom of the tank. The two species of flatworms had increased population sizes. The larger, brown colored worms had a population between 15-20, up from the previous 2 from my second observation. The orange-ish flatworm population is difficult to judge, as numbers of individuals are still attached to one another. The majority of the flatworms were observed within the leaves of Myriophylla spicatum, which died between my second and third observations. I saw two female Cyclops with eggs attached, and numerous adults and juveniles throughout the tank. I observed two more gastrotrichs withing the tank: one near the debris at the bottom of the tank, and the second on a leaf of the Amblestegium moss. The water flea population also increased, although not to the previous high density of the second observation. The carnivorous Utricularia gibba became much more vibrant in color.