Jul 26-28, 2014
Video: mating by Phaenocora
Previous sample

This was taken when the water in this duck pond was fairly high and it had flooded into a long ditch running parallel to the highway. Here there were some stands of cattails and floating mats of algae, found to be Vaucheria. It was also home to very many dragonflies, damselflies, and small boreal chorus frogs.

The sample included some algae and plant fragments, on which there were many Hydra feeding on still more plentiful chydorids. What stood out most though were innumerable Volvox, easily visible to the eye until most disappeared on the third day. There were also various insect larvae, flatworms, and tadpole snails.

Smaller algae were likewise common, notably cyanobacteria, conjugating algae, and epiphytic diatoms. Ciliates were found throughout including Stylonychia and other spirotrichs, colepids, sessilids, and some larger dark types. Most rotifers were less abundant though Notommata and Asplanchnopus were reasonably widespread.

↬ Thanks to zoologist Dr. Alexander Kostenko for the identification of Gyratrix hermaphroditus, Phaenocora, and Mesostoma as well as confirmation of the other flatworms, and to phycologist Roman Romanov for the identification of Coelastrum.