Found at the USF pond in the shallow part of the lake. Its is a protist that can photosynthesize.
This is a dinoflagellate. It is a protist and it is shaped like a fire torch. It is under the class Alveolate. They can be found in water and on corals, jellyfsh, invertebrates with a symbiotic relationship. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/dinoflagellata.html
This type of protista is an dinoflagellate. The shape of this organism is circular shape with sharp stuctures bulging from both ends of the organism. The color is green on the inside with multiple compartments in the cell. One defining characteristic that makes in into its taxonomic group is the presence their exhibiting of both animal and plant like characteristics. Main biological descriptions can include to dissimilar flagells which extend toward opposite directions. The organism is covered in a strong cell covering called amphiesma. Then habitat in which this this dinoflagellate was found in was in a sample of pond water from the castor beach water. The geographical distribution of these organisms are in many marine and freshwater environments. This specific organism was observed on February 5th at 3:02 PM. Because this organism was found under a microscope in a lab the weather conditions did not play a role in the appearance of the organism. The overall classification of this group of organisms is domain eukaryota, class SAR, and phylum dinoflagellate.
This individual was observed from a sample of water from a large pond. The microscope view is 40x magnification (400x total). This particular dinoflagellate is likely photosynthetic, due to the green coloration from chlorophyll. This group is known for two perpendicular flagella and cellulose plates, neither of which is truly visible in the photos, but the shape does align with descriptions of dinoflagellates. What is visible is the groove in the middle of the body in which the flagella are held to rest. Dinoflagellates are found in various bodies of water around the world.
Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/dinoflagellate