Daphnia under microscope (Water Flea), you can see all moving parts, heart, even internal premature young.
Daphnia are small, planktonic crustaceans, between 0.2 and 5 mm in length. Daphnia are members of the order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because of their saltatory swimming style (although fleas are insects and thus only very distantly related). They live in various aquatic environments ranging from acidic swamps to freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers.
The division of the body into segments is nearly invisible. The head is fused, and is generally bent down towards the body with a visible notch separating the two. In most species the rest of the body is covered by a carapace, with a ventral gap in which the five or six pairs of legs lie. The most prominent features are the compound eyes, the second antennae, and a pair of abdominal setae. In many species, the carapace is translucent or nearly so and as a result they make excellent subjects for the microscope as one can observe the beating heart.
Even under relatively low power microscopy, the feeding mechanism can be observed, with immature young moving in the brood-pouch; moreover, the eye being moved by the ciliary muscles can be seen, as well as blood corpuscles being pumped around the circulatory system by the simple heart. The heart is at the top of the back, just behind the head, and the average heart rate is approximately 180 bpm under normal conditions. Daphnia, like many animals, are prone to alcohol intoxication, and make excellent subjects for studying the effects of the depressant on the nervous system -- due to the translucent exoskeleton, and the visibly altered heart rate. They are tolerant of being observed live under a cover slip and appear to suffer no harm when returned to open water. This experiment can also be done using caffeine, nicotine or adrenaline and observing an increase in heart rate.
Daphnia reproduce parthenogenetically usually in the spring until the end of the summer. One or more juvenile animals are nurtured in the brood pouch inside the carapace. The newly hatched Daphnia must molt several times before they are fully grown into an adult usually after about two weeks. The young are small copies of the adult; there are no true nymphal or instar stages. The fully mature females are able to produce a new brood of young about every ten days under ideal conditions. The reproduction process continues while the environmental conditions continue to support their growth. When winter approaches or in drought conditions or at times of other harsh environmental conditions, production of new female generations cease and parthenogenic males are produced. However, even in harsh environmental conditions males may make up considerably less than half the population, in some species they are unknown entirely. Males are much smaller in size than the female and they typically possess a specialized abdominal appendage which is used in mating to grasp a female from behind, pries open her carapace, insert a spermatheca, and thus fertilize the eggs.
These fertilized eggs are termed winter eggs and are provided with extra shell layer called ephippium. The extra layer preserves and protects the egg inside from harsh environmental conditions until the more favourable times, such as spring, when the reproductive cycle is able to take place once again.
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Observing Daphnia Heart Rateby CarolinaBiological1,624 views
This water flea been to Disney Land!!
YaBoyJude 5 months ago