Hello everyone and welcome to my blog all about a little microscopic organism that we all know as a microorganism.
A few weeks ago, I decided to take a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Usually every summer my sisters and I would go to the aquarium just to have something to do. Since it was too early for my yearly aquarium visit with my sisters, I ended up taking my older brother on this fantastic adventure. I went on a Monday evening because I thought the majority of people would be at home getting ready for the rest of their week and boy was I wrong. There were kids running around, bumping into other people, screaming having what seemed to be a good time. But with all the yelling from the kids, it still, overall was a peaceful experience.
Me at the Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium has several exhibits that are separated by ecosystems. The Dolphin Coast, Ocean Voyager, River Scout and the one that I spent most of my time in Tropical Diver. Since we had to pick a microorganism for this assignment my friends, who recently took a microbiology class, told me to check out some coral reefs and anemones and the Tropical Diver exhibits had several different types of coral. In the Tropical Diver exhibit also houses the Clown Anemonefish, the Green Moray Eel, Chinese Zebra Goby, a snake eel, and much more.
Ocean Voyager
Sea Anemone and Clown Anemonefish at Tropical Diver Exhibit
While talking to one of the employees at the aquarium, I found out that coral actually has quite a bit of microorganisms living in them. There was a sign right next to one of the tanks it stated that Zooxanthella is an algae that is found in the most corals tissue.
At first, I was thinking, “oh no this is too easy” and I went on to look for something else. But I ended up going back to the Topical Diver exhibit and looking at the coral reef again the sign next to it one last time and decided this would be the microorganism I wanted to discuss.
Reefs
Sea Anemone
Zooxanthellae is in the phylum Dinoflagellata and its genus is Symbiodinium. Zooxanthellae is a symbiotic algae that the coral uses to create its energy and nutrients for it to survive. I could not see this microorganism with my physical eye because it’s microscopic. Come back next week for more information on this interesting organism!!
Check out some videos and pictures I took during my visit!!!
