Life in a Drop of Water by Mike Morgan How often have we seen,
in books aimed at the amateur microscopist, that one drop of
sediment and water from the pond, would yield a wealth of
organisms to view and wonder at? I tried this, observing over a
period of one hour, 25 microlitres of sediment/pond water.
Indeed there were a wealth of organisms to wonder at. I decided
to split these observations into different articles, covering
the types seen. The first will show the types of Rotifer
observed and I will follow this with articles showing the
protozoa and algae / desmids. Three types of rotifer were seen.
The most abundant was Brachionus sp. and I was able to see the
rotifer both with and without her carrying her eggs (image above
and left respectively). Next to appear was Anuraeopsis. There is
only one British and Irish species of this rotifer, i.e.
Anuraeopsis fissa. The asexual eggs are very distinctive in
being tear-drop shaped and are carried attached to an anal
appendage or egg carrier. The third rotifer o