Tuesday, May 20, 2008

(C)update


Life in BioCup goes on. As far as I can see, no one has died except the mosquito and gnat larva. At the very top of the cup, above the waterline, is my segmented worm. Click the picture and you'll see him better. Below him are Large Marge and MaryLou Retton. (At the bottom left is my finger, attempting to hold my reading glasses in front of the camera lens. Duko ate a pair of my glasses. I should find what's left and remove one of the lenses just for this purpose.) Big Ethel has misbehaved. She snips off all the milfoil from where I've anchored it under stones, so it floats to the top and looks all messy. Every time I fix it back up, she does it again. So I'm leaving it.

You'll notice that, right above the Seattle's Best logo, is a streak of pale, translucent stuff which I can only assume is snail snot. It's usually gone by morning, appearing again throughout the day. I turn the grow lights off at night. Could this be significant?

I opened the lid a bit today and took a sniff. It smelled very faintly of fresh asparagus, which I suppose is a trace of methyl mercaptan or SO2 from the thin layer of decomposing bits at the bottom of the cup. It wasn't a strong or upleasant smell. It just smells like a pond, I guess.

We're coming up on two weeks in the cup. It amazes me that everyone is doing so well in what must be a very poorly oxygenated environment.

I need to give my worm a name. I was thinking of naming him 'Augie'. It's a good name for a worm, don't you think?

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