Week1 Draft1

Submitted by mqpham on Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:20

There is an organism, a larva of some sort ressembling a catapillar or maggot. It is 2cm in length and 4mm wide. The grub's body consists of 12 segments, off-white and yellowish in color. THe organism moves slowly with alterations between contracting and elongating movements, with seven or eight pairs of legs to assist. Movement reveals the body's soft tissue, which is connected to a firm head with two large eyes and a mouth, brown in color. Tiny clear hairs pertrude from the body. The body's segments also devide into smaller segments. There are darks spots on the organism along the sides, eight pairs of specks total. The skin can slightly be seen trhough. A dark line down the center of the insect extens from the head to the end of the body. This could perhaps be the spine, but after light is shined through the body, the line appears to be luminescent.

Organism description/observations (Draft)

Submitted by ncarbone on Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:18

The first thing that I notice about this organism is the segmented body it has. It is broken down into about 15 or so segments and each segment has one brown spot on each side of every individual segment. On one end of its body there is a dark brown head that does not appear to have eyes. The way it moves its head around makes it appear as if it is sensing its surroundings before moving. Perhaps it is blind or has poor vision, so it relies on sensing. When it does move it uses its segments to thrust forward and grabs on with it front legs. It has 6 front legs/feet and 8 mid feet that appear to be used for grip. The tail also has 2 grippers on the end. Despite these gripper feet it cannot seem to gain traction on the plastic container. It looks like a larvae of some sort, so perhaps it is only in it's inital life stage and could eventually morph into it's next life stage similar to a catipillar and a butterfly.

Organism Observation

Submitted by ewinter on Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:16

This organism is estimated to be 1.5 cm in length, and about 5 mm wide.  It has translucent tan skin that appears oily.  It is split into nine sections.  It has two red structures that resemble eyes on a flat surface of circular nature, which is believed to be the head, and a pointed dark structure that resembles a tail.  The slight dark color that is evident through the skin of the tail is hypothesized to be fecal matter.  The organism moves using both transverse and longitudinal waves, that propagate from the head to the tail.  The direction of motion is with the tail at the front, which is used for grip.  It prefers to move on the perimeter of its circular enclosure.  The organism experienced about a 1.5 in. fall when the enclosure was inverted, and it remained rigid for approximately 30 seconds, resembling a state of shock, before resuming regular movement.  At a later point, the enclosure was violently shaken, and the same shock phenomenon occurred.  Through the skin, a dark long discoloration is thought to be a spine, and lighter muscles are observed.  

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