How Fish Smell and Breathe

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I've completed part of my term project, focusing on the "nostrils," or more properly, nares in fish. I based my findings primarily on Koi anatomy. Species vary. In species with barbel (the hair-like appendage from sides of mouth, like this koi) are also used in the detection of scent / food as well.
Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Adding longer cilia. Needs some trimming.

Just completed this morning... the model is still in the process of drying.

Model based on Roles of the olfactory epithelium, glomerulus, and mitral cells-olfactory nerve in smell.

Sense of Smell


Additional images of Koi Nares
Sense of Smell
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Labels on nares (nostrils) and barbel which are also involved with scent.

Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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Sense of Smell
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This weekend I also worked on "How Fish Breathe," and doing an overview on the gills.
Sense of Smell
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Aquaculture - Koi Diet

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While studying on anatomy of fish and the technical definition of "barbel" which is used for the fish sense of "smell" in location of food and whatnot, I came across this golden tidbit on another website.
The Fundamentals of Feeding Koi and Goldfish
By Stephen M. Meyer

Feeding Options
Carp and goldfish evolution has seen to it that the proper functioning of their digestive systems requires dietary variety over the long run. Monotonous diets are fine in aquaculture where fish are routinely culled out for market early in life, but ornamental pondkeeping aims for natural life spans, which places more subtle demands on fish-rearing techniques.

In this respect, no single food type, no matter how nutritious, represents an appropriate or healthy long-term diet for koi or goldfish. I doubt that any of the manufacturers of premium koi and goldfish food would claim that their products should be the exclusive diet of your fish. Therefore, you should make every effort to offer your koi and goldfish a varied diet (which does not mean different brands of pellets but rather different types of foods: vegetables, insects, etc.).

It is useful to think in terms of a base diet and a supplemental diet for your fish. The base diet provides the essential proteins, fats and most vitamins and minerals. The supplementary diet provides additional vitamins and minerals, but also other proteins and fats and, most importantly, variety.

Dehydrated Baby Shrimp for Koi

After reading, I visted Wal-Mart and purchased some floating pellets and dehydrated "Baby Shrimp" specially formulated for Koi and Goldfish.
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Southeastern Plankton Monitoring Network (SEPMN)

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On April 11, 2007, I gathered my first plankton sample (on my own) as instructed by NOAA's SEPMN (Southeastern Phytoplankton Monitoring Network), Jeff Paternoster. Data is collected and monitoring for toxic phytoplankton blooms along the Atlantic, and entered into the national database. It's a network of volunteers, and NOAA provides training and equipment free of cost.
Phytoplankton

The slide contained numerous organisms, which I've photographed and (slowly) placing at my page on the 4/11/2007 Phytoplankton Count. The microscope slide (provided by SEPMN) contains a vertical row A-H and a horizontal row from 1-8. Thus, I've broken down each set of photos into groups A-1, A-2, A-3... presently I've only made it to the B's.
One of the most interesting critters I ran up on so far, was this guy:
Phytoplankton
I'm waiting for a positive identification, but this critter looks like it may have broken from its chain and bears resemblance with Chaetoceros. However, it may be a single organism. At this point, I'm uncertain, and waiting for an expert to id the genus.

Jeff told me the reason these creatures have such long appendages is because it gives them size, not weight, which equates to increased bouyancy in the water. Pretty efficient...
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Fish Brain

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Completing part one of my term project (Aquaculture Practicum)... the structure of the brain in a fish.
Fish Brain
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Fish Brain

Fish Brain
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Fish Brain

Fish Brain
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Fish Brain

The model was based on UC David University, Teaching Resources Center and Right Brain - Left Brain, Optic Nerve Chiasm

Another sideline project I have going at the college, and haven't had a chance to work on or complete just yet...
Mollusk and Gastropod Project
Mollusk / Gastropod Project at Brunswick Community College

Mollusk and Gastropod Project
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Mollusk / Gastropod Project


My fish aquarium
My new aquarium

I have a couple koi in there...

One particular little fish in my aquarium has a big attitude problem (caught on video), and bossing the other smaller fish away from the food. It's even tried to run the Koi away from food.
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Nitzschia sp.

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Nitzschia sp. I
05:10
Captured from Atlantic Ocean 4/4/07 sample. Several specimen are followed. Recorded at 100x magnification on Microscope, with additional magnification of 4-∞ using digital camera.

Nitzschia sp. II
03:36
Nitschia sp. filmed from sample taken from Atlantic Ocean on April 4, 2007, interacting with some other microorganisms; thalassion sp. and pleurosigma sp.

Images at Phytoplankton Sample, 4/07/2007
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Hybrid Striped Bass - White Grub and Yellow Grub

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Two snail types which pose threat to hybrid striped bass culture.

While working around the ponds at BCC, I'd seen one pond where quite a number of the ram's horns snails lay along the embankment. I went back to collect some for display and identification. (I collect mollusk shells). While there, instructor John Baka informs me of a second disease aside of yellow grub (caused by Ram's Horn), it is the white grub. I collected some of the Ram's Horns snails, however unfortunately I did not obtain any live samples. Planorbis was plentiful, which I do have live samples.

John picked up a small piece of driftwood in the pond and showing the underside explained they were all snail eggs! I took the sample home with me, and took a look under the microscope.

Hybrid Striped Bass
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of snail eggs on driftwood

(Planorbis sp.) commonly called a ram's horn snail is involved in the life cycle of Yellow Grub and Physella sp. is involved in the life cycle of White Grub.
Hybrid Striped Bass
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of snail eggs.


Yellow grub in Hybrid Striped Bass Culture.
(Clinostomum complanatum), a digenetic trematode is the most economically devastating disease & parasite problem encountered. These parasites are characterized by their life cycle... having a definitive host (birds) a first intermediate host (snails) and a second intermediate host (fish).
Hybrid Striped Bass
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of snail eggs
Magnification 40x


Development of Methods for Controlling Parasitic Grub Infection Utilizing Intensified Tank Production and Fingerling Pond Modification in Hybrid Striped Bass Aquaculture
Summary: In 1997, an outbreak of an unidentified white grub disease caused high losses of fry and Phase-I fingerlings in a hybrid striped bass hatchery. With collaboration from North Carolina fish farmers, an examination into the identity, biology, and possible control strategies for this grub was conducted.
Partial experimental completion of the grub’s life cycle, analysis of grub DNA and historic reports of grub disease has indicated that the suspect grub is the common white grub Posthodiplostomum minimum.

Infection with this severe grub disease is attributed to exposure of very young fry with immature immune systems to massive numbers of cercariae — the piscine infective stage of the parasite — in the fry ponds.

The life cycle of P. minimum includes the great blue heron as definitive host, the snail host Physella sp. and a variety of fish hosts. The massive number of cercariae within the fry ponds can be attributed to large, uncontrolled populations of Physella sp.

if the snail population can be eliminated prior to fry production, the disease can be avoided.

It is recommended that fry ponds be used only for the production of Phase-I fingerlings. Further, when not being used for the production of Phase-I fingerlings, the ponds and any remnant pools should be kept drained, thoroughly dried, and tilled or plowed regularly. This would effectively eliminate any active or dormant snail populations and provide the hatchery with 2.5 to 3 months of grub-free fingerling production before snail and parasite populations reach a level that would be pathogenic to the young fish.
Source: NC Sea Grant
Complete Research Report in PDF Format.

Side-note.
How this snail got its spots...

Snail
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Ceratium furca - Dinoflagellate

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Ceratium furca
Fig. 47
Ceratium furca - Dinoflagellate
Microscope Magnification 100x with additional digital camera magnification 4-∞
More images from April 4, 2007 plankton sample.

Ceratium furca - Dinoflagellate, Video #1, captured from sample from Atlantic Ocean on April 4, 2007. Ceratium furca, a dinoflagellate from the Atlantic Ocean. Recorded at 100x magnification on Microscope, with additional magnification of 4-∞ using digital camera.
Fish Kill
Hydrogen Sulfide Poisoning
In March 1994, St. Helena Bay on South Africa’s West Coast experienced a massive marine mortality. The event was caused by the decay of a huge red tide of non-toxic dinoflagellates (dominated by Ceratium furca and Prorocentrum micans). About 60 tons of rock lobster and 1500 tons of fish were washed ashore. The lobster and fish died from suffocation and hydrogen sulfide poisoning. Oxygen concentrations were near zero and hydrogen sulfide concentrations were in excess of 50 micromols per liter!
HARMFUL (non-toxic) BLOOMS

What are dinoflagellates? and why are they important?
Dinoflagellates are microscopic, (usually) unicellular, flagellated, often photosynthetic protists, commonly regarded as "algae" (Division Dinoflagellata). They are characterized by a transverse flagellum that encircles the body (often in a groove known as the cingulum) and a longitudinal flagellum oriented perpendicular to the transverse flagellum. This imparts a distinctive spiral to their swimming motion. Both flagella are inserted at the same point in the cell wall, by convention defining the ventral surface. This point is usually slightly depressed, and is termed the sulcus. In heterotrophic dinoflagellates (ones that eat other organisms), this is the point where a conical feeding structure, the peduncle, is projected in order to consume food. Dinoflagellates possess a unique nuclear structure at some stage of their life cycle - a dinokaryotic nucleus (as opposed to eukaryotic or prokaryotic), in which the chromosomes are perminently condensed. The cell wall of many dinoflagellates is divided into plates of cellulose ("armor") within amphiesmal vesicles, known as a theca. These plates form a distinctive geometry/topology known as tabulation, which is the main means for classification.
Both heterotrophic (eat other organisms) and autotrophic (photosynthetic) dinoflagellates are known. Some are both. They form a significant part of primary planktonic production in both oceans and lakes. Most dinoflagellates go through moderately complex life cycles involving several steps, both sexual and asexual, motile and non-motile. Some species form cysts composed of sporopollenin (an organic polymer), and preserve as fossils. Often the tabulation of the cell wall is somehow expressed in the shape and/or ornamentation of the cyst.
Producers of Toxins
Besides being important primary producers, and therefore an important part of the food chain, dinoflagellates are also known for producing nasty toxins, particularly when they occur in large numbers, called "red tides" because the cells are so abundant they make the water change colour. Besides being bad for a large range of marine life, red tides can also introduce non-fatal or fatal amounts of toxins into animals (particularly shellfish) that may be eaten by humans, who are also affected by the toxins. Many of these toxins are quite potent, and if not fatal, can still cause neurological and all sorts of other nasty effects. Add this to the rather ominous suspicion that red tides may be more common thanks to human inputs of phosphates and warmer global temperatures, and you can probably see why we have a vested interest in finding out more about them - both medical and economic.
Source: geo.ucalgary.ca
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Koi - show fish

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Koi

Images enlarge to full resolution.
Koi, Japanese Carp, show fish (youtube upload). These were taken at the Brunswick Community College Aquaculture center, and are currently being kept in a recirculating system.
Koi

The fish are large. Though related to Goldfish, they grow up to over a ft in length. These particular fish measure over ft in length.
Koi

Koi

One student remarked today, though large enough for food-fish, Koi are more valuable alive (for show fish).
Koi

Koi

John Baka, an instructor at BCC said a couple of these large koi are carrying eggs and that's the reason for the branches floating in the pool, for the fish to lay their eggs. I presume the eggs will be attached to the branches and can be gathered for culture.
Koi

Koi

Koi

Koi
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Diatoms in Atlantic Ocean

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Salt Water Microbes and Centric Diatom
Diatom getting kicked around revealing its three dimensional shape. Three clips of microscopic organisms, from salt water sample, East Coast, Atlantic Ocean.
Plankton
All images, Salt Water Plankton

Salt Water Microbes
Microbial activity in salt water sample taken from Atlantic Ocean; North Carolina coastline. Diatom getting rolled around by zooplankton exposing its round surface, and flat shape from side.

Videos filmed using 100x magnification on microscope, and increased magnification up to 4-∞ using digital camera.

Plankton tow sample, for Southeast Phytoplankton Monitoring Network
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Dolphin Slaughter

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Here's an excerpt from an article on artificial intelligence, and includes dolphin intelligence in comparison with human.

Is Artificial Intelligence Possible?
By Tommy Connolly
By many of the physical methods of comparing intelligence, such as measuring the brain size to body size ratio, cetacean surpass non-human primates and even rival human beings. For example “dolphins have a cerebral cortex which is about 40% larger a human being. Their cortex is also stratified in much the same way as humans. The frontal lobe of dolphins is also developed to a level comparable to humans. In addition the parietal lobe of dolphins which "makes sense of the senses" is larger than the human parietal and frontal lobes combined. The similarities do not end there; most cetaceans have large and well-developed temporal lobes which contain sections equivalent to Broca's and Wernicke's areas in humans.”
Dolphins exhibit complex behaviours; they have a social hierarchy, they demonstrate the ability to learn complex tricks, when scavenging for food on the sea floor, some dolphins have been seen tearing off pieces of sponge and wrapping them around their "bottle nose" to prevent abrasions; illustrating yet another complex cognitive process thought to be limited to the great apes, they apparently communicate by emitting two very distinct kinds of acoustic signals, which we call whistles and clicks.
One example of their dissimilar brain structure and intelligence is their sleep technique. While most mammals and birds show signs of rapid REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, reptiles and cold-blooded animals do not. REM sleep stimulates the brain regions used in learning and is often associated with dreaming. The fact that cold-blooded animals do not have REM sleep could be enough evidence to suggest that they are not conscious and therefore their brains can definitely be emulated. Furthermore, warm-blood creatures display signs of REM sleep, and thus dream and therefore must have some environmental awareness. However, dolphins sleep unihemispherically, they are “conscious” breathers, and if fall asleep they could drown. Evolution has solved this problem by letting one half of its brain sleep at a time. As dolphins utilise this technique, they lack REM sleep and therefore a high intelligence, perhaps consciousness, is possible that does not incorporate the transitional states mentioned earlier.
The evidence for animal consciousness is indirect. Intriguing, but more proof is required. However merely because we do not understand something does not mean that it is false - or not. Studying other animal minds is a useful comparative method and could even lead to the creation of artificial intelligence (that does not include irrelevant transitional states for an artificial entity), based on a model not as complex as our own. Still the central point being illustrated is how ignorant our understanding of the human brain, or any other brain is and how one day a concrete theory can change thanks to enlightening findings.

The Inhumanity of Japan's Dolphin Slaughter
This is a very graphic video I stumbled upon, on youtube.com, and disturbing as the footage was, I feel people need to know what's going on. Japan's food industry should be held in account for this barbaric practice. Dolphins have complex neural networks not too very different from humans and should not be treated in this inhumane way. Dolphin Slaughter, on youtube.com
Herding Dolphins into Bay

Dolphins are herded into a small bay by banging on pipes which interfere with the dolphin's sonar (echolocation, hearing), confusing and frightening them.
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Some dolphins are sorted and sold to aquariums while others are brutally stabbed and rounded up and dragged off to the slaughter house.
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Machettis are used to cut open throats of conscious dolphins as they lay helpless on the pavement...
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Blood pouring from this dolphin's throat...
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Dolphin going in shock and writhing in agony...
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
School children who walk by in this video can see the dolphins agonizing in painful convulsions and slowly dying.
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Japan's indifference to the dolphin slaughter shows it has no respect for regulations regarding international waters, which harm both the ocean and creatures that live within them.
Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
Last year, I transferred an article to the web which was printed in the May 1911 issue of National Geographic, on the "Shore Whaling Industry by Roy Chapman Andrews, Assistant Curator of Mammals, American Museum of Natural History. A guide through the grisly slaughter of whales, an industry that flourished between the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Roy C. Andrews writes in 1911: "And what is to be the result of this wholesale slaughter? Inevitably the commercial extinction of the large whales, and that within a very few decades. In some localities this has already taken place and all the whales have been killed or driven from their feeding grounds."
Dolphins are Endangered
"Other dolphin species in different regions also need protection. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) works with governments around the world to identify biodiversity-rich areas and designate specially protected areas for wildlife. For example, in the Caribbean and other regions, UNEP is supporting projects to protect the marine environment, making it safer for dolphins and whales.
As part of the global effort to protect the planetâs biodiversity, UNEP administers one of the world's largest conservation agreements-the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES. Adopted in 1973, it became international law two years later.
More than 150 governments have ratified the treaty, which offers varying protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants, depending on their condition in the wild and the effect that international trade may have on them. CITES bans international commercial trade in species threatened with extinction, such as cheetahs, tigers, the great apes, many tortoises and birds of prey. It also protects other species, which are not threatened, but may be at serious risk unless international trade is strictly regulated."
- Dolphins as Endangered Species, United Nations Website

WHALES ARE DEVOTED TO THEIR CALVES
"All the large whales show great affection for their young, and the cows and calves will seldom leave each other when pursued by a ship. I remember at one time in Alaska, on board the steamship Tyce, Jr., we had sighted a female finback with a young one about 30 feet long beside her. They were not difficult to approach, and as the old whale rose to spout not five fathoms from the vessel's nose, the gunner fired, killing her almost instantly. The calf, although badly frightened, continued to swim in a circle about the ship, and finally, when its dead mother had been hoisted to the surface, the little fellow came alongside so close that I could have struck him with a stone. During the time that the carcass was being inflated and the gun reloaded, the calf was constantly within a few fathoms of the ship, swimming around and around, sometimes rubbing itself against the body of its dead mother. Finally a harpoon was sent crashing into its side, and it sank without a struggle."
- Roy Chapman Andrews, 1911

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Sample Letter to Japanese Officials, (seashepherd.org)
I am outraged by the annual brutal slaughter of dolphins and whales that takes place in Japan. The images of bloody red water clearly show the world that Japan has little respect for the state of the world’s oceans and for the conservation of the marine resources it claims to support.
Many scientific studies show that the oceans are in decline. We must take whatever actions are necessary to stop their over-exploitation and to protect the creatures that live in them. These dolphins do not belong to Japan. The status of the species of dolphins and whales that you kill are either endangered, threatened, or unknown. It is an unthinkable waste that they will likely end up as a meat product or deceptively sold as whale meat, polluted with toxic levels of mercury and cadmium, killing people that eat it. It is tragic and unacceptable that the remaining dolphins that are not killed will end up destined for death in an aquarium, water park, or "swim with dolphins" program.
In addition, the methods used to kill these animals are cruel. Corralling the dolphins into bays, then making them suffer a long and painful death by spears, hooks, and drowning is an inhumane way of fishing. This action is disgraceful and has caused much disappointment in the international community.
We demand that Japan permanently and immediately renounce and stop this slaughter. We will work diligently to bring this issue to international light until you have ceased your reprehensible violence.

Sincerely,

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Spirogyra

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Recently, the instructors at Brunswick took myself and another student to the ponds and showed us certain common elements that are important to proper pond management and care. One of the important things I learned was about filament algae, and the threat it poses to fish.
Algae Pond Scum
Pond with filamentous algae, at Brunswick Community College
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Filamentous Algae
Filamentous algae, at Brunswick Community College
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Filamentous algae are microscopic algae that form colonies of “filaments” — hence the name. These algae are notorious for forming the large, pillow-like mats of algae that float on the surface of ponds. Common types found in Ohio include Spirogyra and Pithophora.
Disadvantages
As in the case with planktonic algae, high levels of nutrients can cause filamentous algae abundance to explode, especially in ponds lacking other aquatic plants, becoming so abundant that severe oxygen problems can result in the pre-dawn hours during July and August. Treating a severe filamentous algae problem in summer will almost certainly cause a fish kill. Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet A-8-01, Winter and Summer Fish Kills in Ponds, provides insight into how these types of summer kills occur.
From Benefits and Disadvantages of Aquatic Plants in Ponds, Ohio State University Extension
Filamentous Algae

Filamentous Algae

Algae are primitive aquatic plants that differ from other plants in that they have no true stems, leaves or roots. They have a place in the overall food chain as they convert the energy of the sun into forms that can be used as a food source for other aquatic life. Algae also help to increase dissolved oxygen in water. Algae grow in both fresh and salt water systems. There are said to be over 20,000 different named species of green algae. Algae occur in three different basic forms. These are categorised as planktonic, filamentous and macrophytic.
Worldwide, there are over 400 different species of the genus Spirogyra. Spirogyra tends to show in ponds as a tangled pond scum. It is also called “water silk”, “silk weed” and “mermaid tresses”. On sunny days, the mats of spirogyra filaments usually float on the surface of the water. They are kept afloat by tiny bubbles of oxygen arising from photosynthesis. These algal mats then sink when the sun goes down and the process reverses as photosynthesis is reduced. As a result, the strands of Spirogyra consume oxygen for cellular respiration. Carbon dioxide is then produced as a waste product. Where there are thick algal mats present, large fluctuations in the dissolved carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the water can occur. This can lead to rapid changes in the pH of the water that in turn can cause stress and even death to other organisms, eg fish, living in the water.
Blanket Weed and other Pond Algae


Spirogyra
Spirogyra - A Filament Algae, magnified at +/- 40x
Spirogyra

Spirogyra

Spirogyra

Spirogyra

Spirogyra

Spirogyra
A Desmid and Spirogyra algae found in the pond sample.

Cladoceran
A Cladoceran found among the algae sample.
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