#1: 10-22-10
I observed six different kinds of living organisms, all of which I was unfamiliar with and fascinated by.
The first creature I saw was the largest by far, and resembled a worm in its long, whipping motion. Though when i got to its head, the extend-able horn-like antennae and wide "snout" made it look more like a dragon. It extended one of the antennae which appeared to be a tube through which it fed off of the moss/dirt particles it swam in. It also had spiky-tipped arm-like extensions along its lower half that literally gripped the glass of the aquarium in order to keep the dragon in place while it wriggled and stretched to silt through the moss to eat. Located in the center of the aquarium, I only encountered one of these marvels.
The second living thing I noticed was a bright-green "handlebar" structure that didn't appear to have any means of motion, except the quivering manner with which it floated in the water. The term "handlebar" refers to its symmetric appearance of elongated shape separated by a ridge in the middle. I am not sure what it was doing, for it was found independently of the plant matter, and I observed a total of four throughout different areas of the tank.
The third organism was very active and "jiggly" and had sheets or flaps that looked like the wings of a ladybug beetle that opened to reveal folded leg-structures and jiving insides. I spotted two, and they were both attached to the stems of plant pieces apparently feeding.
The fourth was perhaps the most intriguing structurally-speaking of animals that I saw. I call it the "power-tool" slug. It attached its oozy self by its base to the stem of a curling leaf. A clear, plump little cucumber, it had a protrusion that appeared to consist of spinning "teeth" or a vibrating comb. It looked to be filtering tiny things out of the water to consume. I discovered its protrusion was retractable when i accidentally bumped the table, and the vibrations caused the organism to recede into itself on the leaf. What a fascinating creature.
The most inconspicuous and obscure organism that I finally noticed caught my eye with its neon green coloring. A small, spherical rolling "bead", it simply moved through the water oblivious to the larger organisms around it.
The last creature I saw was nick-named "saber-tooth" due to it's single pointed tail. It was somewhat beetle-like in its dome-shape, and moved quite swiftly compared to the other things in the tank. Clear and only slightly larger than the tiny green bead-organism, it crawled with tiny hairs along the stem-highways of the thickest mass of plant.
Aside from clear worms, green beads, hairy beetles, and mating rods, the tank is a peaceful realm and obviously a friendly host to lots of different life forms, however tiny.
-Ariel smith, 10-24-10
