Fish Food from Lake Gregory

Collected using a plankton net, and shown here in Darkfield, are Zooplankton (microscopic animals) and Phytoplankton (microscopic plants) collected from Lake Gregory at Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains. Zooplankton, along with Phytoplankton and Bacteria form the base of the world’s food chain.

Zooplankton include Cyclops, Daphnia (water fleas), Ostracods (which look like they live between two shells), Nauplius (which are juvenile copepods and resemble mites), Dinoflagellates (which look like little rockets here), Rotifers (which look like they have wheels at their mouths), and many other kinds of protozoa.

Phytoplankton include algae of many kinds (the long tapered green filaments are algae as are the green cells). Also there are Volvox (which are actually colonies of cells and look like transparent green balls that slowly spin as they swim). They may have smaller green balls inside which are daughter colonies that will escape when they get old enough. You also may see Euglena (which are generally long tapered green cells that slowly swim with one whip-like flagella). Euglena have a red “eye spot” you may be able to see, too.