Day2:
Observation of the eggs at day 2 showed a remarkable number of differences
than what I had previously seen. The most obvious change was the
appearance of dark black areas into what appeared to be the outer edge of
the egg. These areas were present in most of the eggs from this point
forward. Although I can't say for certain I suspect that these are the
areas that would eventually lead to colored patterning on the adult fish.
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| Day 2 - Dark Areas: Dark
infiltrates are now seen on the surface of
the egg. |
Upon closer observation of the egg I began to see
movement. At first I thought it was just an optical illusion due to the
water that the eggs were resting in. When I looked closer though it
suddenly became clear what I was looking at, blood!
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| Day 2 - Blood: Blood can
now be seen moving across the egg. Above: Blood cells appear
as small spheres. In the still frame above they look like scales in
the top center of the image. Below: Blood flow across the
cell can be seen over time lapse. Click to play. |
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With blood clearly flowing around the egg, I next
sought to find where the blood flow
originated.
To that end I found a
rudimentary
heart beating.
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| Day2 - Heartbeat:
A
rudimentary heart can be seen beating. Click to play |
Seeing a beating heart less than 2 days old was incredible. What
surprised
me even more was what I found next. As I looked around the eggs in more
detail I could clearly see the beginnings of a head and backbone
developing in almost every egg.
 |
| Day 2 - Spinal Cord: The
spinal cord of the young fry can now be seen arching along the edge
of the egg. On the right a head, and most
noticeably
an eye are also seen. |
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