roysh's Identifications

Observation Description:
This organism is a Dinoflagellate (Phylum Miozoa) and it belongs to the Kingdom Protista. While searching under the microscope, we came across a protist that resembled the shape of a sea shell. It was microscopic in size, and seemed to have two flagella. Its color was light green and yellow. It also contained white color in it as well. The characteristic that determined that it was from the Kingdom Protista was its microscopic size and two flagella. It seemed to have a hard shell which represents its cellulose plates. According to Wikipedia, dinoflagellates are unicellular and possess two flagella. They have cellulose plates that act as protective armor. Half are photosynthetic and the other half are heterotrophic. They tend to be responsible for the red tide. They form mutualistic relationships with coral. They acquired the ability to photosynthesize through secondary endosymbiosis of a red algae (Source: Wikipedia).

Location, Habitat, and Distribution:
I observed this organism in my biology lab. According to the TA, a sample was taken from a pond at the University of South Florida. It was collected from a portion of Castor beach that was exposed to sunlight. Lat: 28.063082 Lon: -82.411015. Their habitats include all aquatic environments such as marine, fresh water, ponds, and even snow or ice. They are distributed almost anywhere there is water. They are abundant in both marine and freshwater environments (Source: Wikipedia).

Date and Time: February 8, 2019 at 7:39 PM EST

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate

Kingdom Protista