Lab Notes

✶ February 28, 2026 ✶

My friend Gerald and his tumbles and runs

New Friends: The Witch and the Protozoa

I was very excited for today. Even while still waiting on my pipettes to come in the mail, I found a, albeit barbaric, solution to getting small amounts of water onto a slide. This is speaking of the running water sample I aquired from the same park as the Starmoss in The Witch-of-the-Woods Wears a Lab Coat. After making a *chef's kiss* wet mount of this sample, it took about 2 minutes to locate my new friend of the day, and my very first living eukaryote I've seen under a microscope. Up until now, everything at school has been already dead for hazard protection. Without further ado, please welcome Gerald to the team.

Experiments: Swift 380T Microscope @ 1000x magnification

Organism	Observations	Photos
Gerald the Protozoa Euglena gracilis	Gerald was found swimming along almost dead-center of the wet-mounted slide, pushing around a little air bubble. He can be seen swimming around and appeared more active when the light of the microscope was brighter. Not seen in the .gif is his single flagella (monotrichous) on the his anterior end that was used in a whip-like fashion during his tumble-and-runs movement. Every so often he would bunch up into a little ball and then start swimming again. Another piece not seen on the .gif were the many bacteria that were zooming past him. I will attempt to stain these bacteria when my equipment comes in the mail. As well as his stigma (red eyespot) used for phototaxis (light seeking for photosynthesis). Due to Gerald the Protozoa's chloroplast cells inside his body, along with his size, and metaboly (shape-shifting) - my best assumption is that he's a part of the Euglena genus. However, all good things must come to a close, and Gerald... well... He's an aerobic protozoa, which means I took him out of a river that was highly active and therefore was oxygen-rich, and then placed the slide cover over it. On top of that, the heat from the microscope can overheat the water and damage chloroplasts. Whichever was the root cause, we mourn this day for Gerald. He was a good friend. R.I.P. Gerald 2026-2026

Organism

Observations

Photos

Gerald the Protozoa

Euglena gracilis

Gerald was found swimming along almost dead-center of the wet-mounted slide, pushing around a little air bubble. He can be seen swimming around and appeared more active when the light of the microscope was brighter. Not seen in the .gif is his single flagella (monotrichous) on the his anterior end that was used in a whip-like fashion during his tumble-and-runs movement. Every so often he would bunch up into a little ball and then start swimming again.

Another piece not seen on the .gif were the many bacteria that were zooming past him. I will attempt to stain these bacteria when my equipment comes in the mail. As well as his stigma (red eyespot) used for phototaxis (light seeking for photosynthesis).

Due to Gerald the Protozoa's chloroplast cells inside his body, along with his size, and metaboly (shape-shifting) - my best assumption is that he's a part of the Euglena genus.

However, all good things must come to a close, and Gerald... well... He's an aerobic protozoa, which means I took him out of a river that was highly active and therefore was oxygen-rich, and then placed the slide cover over it. On top of that, the heat from the microscope can overheat the water and damage chloroplasts. Whichever was the root cause, we mourn this day for Gerald. He was a good friend.

R.I.P. Gerald

2026-2026

Location of sample

Bartley Ranch Regional Park (Reno, NV)