Picture Challenge Day #2:

So today I'm posting a picture that was actually taken last week. A lot of people, including Rich, don't quite understand what it is I'm studying for school and what my research actually involves. So I'll take a moment to explain it. The posted picture is of me and one of our student workers gathering mud from the bottom of a catfish pond. The dog swimming in the picture decided to join us for a swim. She was a sweetheart. In that mud, I'm looking for a certain species of oligochaete (big word for worm) that sheds a form of the parasite known as an actinospore. This actinospore floats in the water until it encounters a fish. It then infects the fish where a cyst containing myxospores (these look like sperm) forms. Once this cyst ruptures, the myxospores are ingested by the worm and the cycle continues. There are several different species of these organisms in catfish ponds. I am studying these species and seeing how they relate to each other morphologically and molecularly (kind of like CSI).

On another note, Rich and I have gotten sick. Ugh. I was running a fever most of the day, but I think I've finally broken it. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. Until then...