Writing in Biology

The organism is about 26mm in length. It has a spherical body and long, thin tail. The tail length is about 15mm and the body length is about 11mm. It's body is about 3mm wide. The organism is a tan-ish color but see-through. Inside the body are visible and symmetric organs, some of which are white and some are dark. The organism moves simalr to a caterpillar in that is does an abduction/adduction movement to move around. At first, the organism did not move but after some time it began to wriggle around. The movement of the organism seems to be random, with no path or direction. It often flips over and rolls around. Eyes are not visible, perhaps the tail functions for environment sensation. The tail is longer than the body. It does not appear to have any appendages. There are however, small bumps on its underside which may be functional is movement/traction. Based on it's random movement I would guess that the organism is in a juvenile stage. 

The creature was a bilaterally symmetrical living organism, approximately 50mm in length, with the physical make up and attributes of a maggot. It moves similar to a caterpillar; it consistently moved once being place in the dish except for when touched or when the dish was disturbed. It was brown in color but also slightly transparent allowing the observer to see structures within the main body. It had multiple sets of small legs, six to be precise, a proportionally long tail, approximately 35mm in length, and what appears to be a mouth like structure. It did not seem to have much control of the tail and also seemed to have a defense mechanism of freezing up when it was touched or when the dish was disturbed. Many questions still remain, what is this organism exactly, what does it eat and what is its normal environment, are just a few examples of the many fundamental questions that still remain.

- color: creamy white body with a black thin tail that is about 3/4 of an inch long, longer than the body itself
- moves around like a small caterpillar with tiny little legs, however its tail is stiff
- appears that its larva body is inside some sort of transulcent cacoon
- outer surface is somewhat sticky to small particles, but otherwise it is easy to roll over
- white insides
- some sort of hole in the darker mouth region that pokes out before every time it moves forward
- appears to have a difficult time climbing up and out, probably due to its tail
- crawling alongside the outer edges, outer surface is ridged
- symmetrical, bilaterally symmetrical

Total (fully extended) Length: 31mm
Body length: 15mm
Body length (when at shortest): 13mm
Tail length: 16mm
Body width: 2mm
Tail width: <1mm, about 1/3 of a mm

Things I would like to know:
- does the outer portion of its body have muscular functions or does it just serve for protection/movement?
- what does it eat?
- where does it live?
- in what stage of development is it at or is it fully mature?
- can it see? if not, how does it sense its surroundings?

Unknown Organism

           The unknown organism appears to have a tail-like structure attached to it. This reminds me of a flagellum used to move around the specimen tray. It appears to have no legs and uses its body to move. It scrunches in and then out to continue moving around the tray. In addition, it has a light brown color to it that is transparent and you could see the inside of the organism. From what I can see without cutting into the organism is that it has a white core inside it and the layer over it could be protecting the main body. That is from harm and any other substances. It also appears to be sticky since the bits of shredded tree bark stick to the organism. This makes me conclude that it might be sticky. When I first observed it, the organism appears to be worm-like. It also seems rugged. The organism is moving around the tray so my observation is its getting a sense of its new environment it was put in and the surroundings. Looks like a maggot as well as larvae. It is bilaterally symmetrical.  

           Just measuring the body, it is about 1.5 cm long. After measuring the tail, it came out to be about 1.6 cm. in total a body length of ~3.1 cm long. It is small organism whose defenses seem to be minimal. It continues to examine its surroundings. My questions are what kind of environment is preferable for the organism to sustain life. What is it closely related to? What kinds of foods does it eat? Is it an herbivore or a carnivore? What is its method of reproduction. Is it a male or female? 

I thought it was a tadpole at first, but I saw it crawl. This organism has a tail. It is alive. It is moving like a worm moves. I can see the inside of it contracting as it moves. It moves its head first and then pulls the rest of its body with it. It seems like it is trying to escape from the plastic cover because it’s moving along the walls of the cover. It was originally put in the middle of the cover. It is about the size of my digit including the tail. It is brownish tanish and somewhat transparent. It moves very slowly. It keeps going in circles straightforwardly without turning around or moving backwards. It stops moving when I put my finger against the plastic cover where it currently is. It starts moving again once I remove my finger or when my finger has been there for a long time without moving. It has 2 protrusions sticking out of it from the front. It tried to climb up the cover walls after I flipped it over. It flipped itself back over slowly after I flipped it over. It twisted it’s head over first and slowly twisted the rest of its body over along with it. It has black part on the front inside that looks like its eyes. It has a white part connected to that black part as the rest of its insides. It has multiple very tiny legs on its under-side to help it move like a worm.

It is 30 mm long in total. Without the tail it is 15 mm long when extended. The tail is 15 mm long. It’s trying to climb up the wall more frequently. It turned around to go the other way. It tried to put its legs against the wall to walk on the wall to escape. It fell over instead. It seems like it dislikes being put in this plastic cover that’s clear. It keeps rolling over on its back and started moving using its back with its legs in the air. It’s still trying to climb up the wall. It has little white furs on its whole body. It has grooves on its outer parts. It doesn’t make any noise.

What does it eat?

What habitat does it live in?

Why is its tail half its total length?

Is it because of the small legs that i moves like a worm or the other way around. What’s the point of having legs if it moves like a worm anyway?

How does it breathe?

Can it drown?

Why is it sort of transparent on the outside and even around the tail besides at the very end of the tail?

How does it mate?

Is it male or female and how can you tell?

Observations:

• Moving
• Alive
• Kind of looks like a maggot
• Long skinny tail (gets darker towards the end)
• Moves like a caterpillar
• Structures inside (almost transparent)
• Brownish
• Multiple little legs
• Might have a mouth
• Wood shavings have stuck to it
• Freezes up when touched
• Sticking to the outside of the dish
• Except for when touched or had the dish disturbed it has not stopped moving
• Doesn’t appear to have much control of its tail
• The body when fully stretched out is approximately 15mm long
• The tail is approx. 35mm long meaning the organism as a whole is about 50mm

Questions:

• What is it?
• What is its natural environment?
• What does it eat?
• What is its classifications? Insect? Invertebrate?
• Does it have bones?
• How big does it get?
• Can it see?
• Defense mechanisms?

Creature is presented in what appears to be a larval stage and is very resembling of a maggot. While it maintains movement the body can be seen through a distorted outer layer or casing. The body is segmented much like that of a worm and the movement is controlled through contracted motions that inch the creature along. The body appears to be in two segments the further end with what appears to be some sort of tail or appendage resembling that of a rat, with the last millimeter or so being exposed from the casing showing the thin black structure underneath. Atop the head two antennae can be seen bilaterally. Lack of any visible eyes suggests that this animal does not rely on vision (at least at this stage) , and the contracted movement points to a possible burrowing behavior perhaps contracting forward as if to push dirt or soil out of the way. From the frontal portion of the head an appendage can be seen repeatedly coming in an out exposing what is most likely some sort of mouth or perhaps an apparatus for the sense of smell. There are thin black structures bilaterally on the sides that seem to be legs that are pushed up against the sides of the casing, leading to suggest that when this enters adult hood it could potentially be the larval stage of some sort of fly or fly-like creature. This maggot stretches out at about 2.5 cm with its tail starting at exactly half its body length at 1.25 cm. The body is thin and is only about 0.1 cm in width. The thin black tail underneath the outer casing can be seen extending from its tip all the way to the center of the body on the inside. This could perhaps suggest that the tail is some sort of breathing apparatus as it is a direct tubing straight to the center of what would be the chest of the maggot. It could potentially provide air if this maggot were underwater or in dirt.

The unknown specimen is tan in coloring, but also translucent as one can see through the outer layer.  The specimen’s body is of a meal worm liking, although, has a long tail like appendage at the posterior of the body. The tail like appendage is thick at the base and becomes thinner until the end, which has a black color The movement of the body can be described as slow, as it only moves in short distances. The specimen has many short legs. The specimen seems to be attracted to the wood chips in the glass older. If there is movement unknown to the specimen, it becomes docile and curls up into a ball.  As observed, the specimen can roll itself over if in its back. It is bilateral symmetrical.The unknown specimen is about 15 mm in length, while still, if movement is occurring the specimen is about 17-20 mm as it extends its anterior during movement. The thickest width of the body is 3mm. The posterior tail like appendage is 23 mm in length. Therefore, the specimen’s full length from the anterior to the end of the posterior is about 38 mm. My first question would be: what type of environment does this unknown specimen live in? Is this specimen fully grown into its adult life? If the adult description different than the stage the specimen is at now? 

It looks like a colorless inch worm with a tail. Tail is what really makes this insect unique which makes me think that it is a rat tailed maggot. I have never observed maggot this up close and they absolutely look disgusting. The tail almost looks poisonous and the way they move is so creepy. Do they not have eyes? They move very slowly and it is crazy to know that small insect like this will lay eggs and create even smaller kind. I wonder where they live, what they eat and what conditions they need in order to survive. Is the tail necessary and if it was to be chopped off, could they survive? I wonder if people eat these things. They can go inside of a human, and dogs, and many different living organisms. It is absolutely sickening to see it. How small are they when they are born and how big can they get up to because I feel like they’d get even more disgusting if they were larger in size. If they don’t have eyes, how can they travel and find directions to where they wanna go? And where is the mouth located? Seems like this insect doesn’t have anything.

This larvae has the body size of about 2cm with its tail about 2cm as well. The tail is as long as the body and I am starting to think that the tail helps the larvae travel or find the direction it wants to go to. But even then why is the tail so long? It has like black stuff inside, would that be food stored in the body or something else? At the first glance, this looks like a little tiny firstborn mouse. Staring and observing this insect makes me absolutely sick that I don’t even think I can stare at it even a little longer. It is almost as if I have a headache now and want to vomit. Would they be in the primary predator level and if so do they only feed off of plants? And do they need these little wood chips in their environment because I was given this insect and those little wood pieces.Does this maggot have the ability to pick up its tail? Because it looks like it always is down and dragging on the floor. Why don’t they have the ability to come out of these little containers? I feel like it tried several times but it gives up.

Unknown Organism Observations

• Moves like a worm (expands and contracts)
• Thin stretchable skin (nearly transparent)
• Can see internal organs
• Has a head that is used to feel out the environment ahead of it
• Has a long thin pin-like tail (water motility?)
• Tail largely unused when moving on land
• Body roughly 1.5 cm long (1.75 cm when stretched) , and .5 cm wide                                                                                                                  
• Tail roughly 2.5 cm long
• Has a correct orientation/” bottom side” (flips itself over before moving forward again when put upside-down)
• Has small projections on the bottom side for traction
• Tail is flexible