The Life of Our

Medaka Egg
By: Katrina Anderson and Megan Muth
Period 3
 Requirements for a Medaka
Egg to Survive Until
To be sure that your Medaka egg does not die
you must fill its container that it is staying in
with freshspring water once everyday. Make
sure to not change the type of water that you
are placing the egg in!
Keep eachMedaka egg in a petri dish or some
type of dish so that it is safe until it has
hatched.
The water in your dish should be no more than
5 mm deep at all times.
The temperature should be between 15-25 °C
Day 1
April 16th,
2009
Hello my name is
Arnold. I am about 23
hours old. I am going
to tell you the story of
my life. Today after a
little car ride from
Clarion University I
finally arrived at
Punxsutawney Area
High School. I met the
people that would be
taking care of me until
I’m born or hatched.
There is a picture of
me to the right
showing stage 17 of
my birth. As you can
see, I am not that
developed yet but
pretty soon I will be
Day 2
April 17th,
2009
Today is the second day
at Punxsutawney Area
High School. I am really
enjoying it here because
my babysitters are
taking care of me real
well. The container that I
am staying in is really
comforting because my
babysitters fill it up with
fresh spring water
everyday. They also
examine me under their
microscope everyday to
make sure that I am
alright. My babysitters
take a picture of me
everyday I feel like I’m
famous! Today was a
very important day
because I finally got a
heartbeat for the first
time! Therefore, I am on
stage 23 of my
developing process. My
Day 5
April 20th,
2009
After a very long
weekend at Mrs.
Wolfgang’s house I
arrived back at
Punxsutawney Area High
School again for the
whole week. Today is the
fifth day of being at
Punxsutawney. I’m on
stage 26 today in my life
therefore I am about 56
hours old. My heartbeat
today was about 102
beats per minute! My
heartbeat rate increases
everyday meaning that
I’m healthy. Today was
another important day
because my blood
circulation began to flow
through the egg! As you
can see in the picture on
the right I have
developed a lot since
before the weekend.
The Heartbeat Videos of
Me
Day 2 Heartbeat (90 Day 5 Heartbeat (102
beats per minute) beats per minute)
Day 6
April 21st,
2009
Today is the sixth day at
Punxsutawney Area High
School. My optic
cups/eyes were finally
visible today. If you look
in the picture on the
right my eyes are the
two big black dots that
are to the left of the oil
globule. As you can see
in the picture I am
developing rather
quickly. I am already on
stage 28 of my process
and have a heartbeat of
104 beats per minute! At
this point in my life I
have a lot of cytoplasm
as you can see in the
picture which is a very
good sign. So far I don’t
have any developing
problems which is also a
good thing! I can’t wait
until I’m finally hatched
Day 7
April 22nd,
2009
Today is the seventh day
at Punxsutawney Area
High School. As you can
see from the picture on
the right, my eyes are
very visible today! Today
I am on stage 29 of my
developing process
therefore I am 84 hours
old already! You can also
see from the box on the
lower left hand corner of
the picture that I am
increasing in size
everyday. Today my
blood was still circulating
throughout my body
however there was more
blood today which is
good. I think my other
structures will start
developing very soon! I
am having a great time
Day 8
April 23rd,
2009
Today is the eighth day
at Punxsutawney Area
High School. I am on
stage 30 of my
developing process
therefore I am about
102 hours old. As you
can see from the
picture of me on the
right, I am developing
very fast! Towards the
bottom of the picture
you can see my tail
beginning to form. In
the picture you can
also see that my body
is beginning to develop
more and more
everyday. The
cytoplasm in my egg is
beginning to
Day 9
April 24th,
2009
Today is the ninth day
at Punxsutawney Area
High School. As you
can see from the box
in the upper right hand
corner of the picture I
have increased in size
a lot since yesterday.
Today was a very
important day in my
developing process
because my fins began
to move today. This
means that I should be
hatching very soon!
Unfortunately today is
Friday therefore I will
probably hatch over
the weekend while I’m
at Mrs. Wolfgang’s
house.
Day 12
April 27th,
2009
Today is the twelfth day at
Punxsutawney Area High
School. After another long
weekend at Mrs.
Wolfgang’s house I was
very excited to come back
to the school so that my
babysitters could see me.
As you can see in the
picture I did hatch over the
weekend! It has been great
to swim around my
container all day long! Now
that I have finally hatched
you can really see a lot of
my structures such as my
spleen which is the red dot
beside the oil globule. My
babysitters had a choice of
taking me home with them
or putting me in the
community bowl with all
the other fish. My one
babysitter, Megan, decided
to take me home and take
care of me. Therefore, I
have to take another small
Day 13
April 28th,
2009
I am having a wonderful
time at Megan’s house
she takes such great
care of me! My home is
now in a fish bowl in
Megan’s kitchen. She
takes care of me by
changing my water to
fresh spring water
everyday. Megan also
feeds me fish food twice
a day! I am growing
bigger and bigger each
day. In conclusion, it took
13 days for me to be
born and I’m very happy
that I have finally
hatched! I’m a very
healthy baby boy!
Requirements for a Medaka
Egg to Survive After
The water temperature should be between16-28°C
after hatching. Remember that you should stay
with the samewater you first entered the egg into.
It is important to not take the egg from spring
water and put the hatched fish into tap water.
Keep using the same type of water!
For the first seven to fourteen days after
hatching you should feed it protozoa and newly
hatched brine shrimp. After three weeks, you
can feed it finely chopped white worms and
tropical fish food sparingly.
The most important thing to remember is to NOT
overfeed the newly hatched fish.
After four to six weeks, they are considered adults.
They have a life span of about four or more years!
Day 1
Labeled
Structures
Vitelline Membrane:
This is the delicate
cytoplasmic membrane
surrounding the ovum
also known as the yolk
membrane. The function
of this is to protect the
ovum.

Filament: These are the

hair-like structures
coming out of the
Medaka. The function of
these is to protect the
Medaka.

Cytoplasm: This is
enclosed within the
plasma membrane. The
cytoplasm contains
many cell parts and is
the location where many
Day 2
Labeled
Structures
Oil Globule: This is one
or several small
spherical shapes of oil
within the yolk-sac.

Chorion: This is a
membrane that is found
between the mother and
a fetus. It is formed by
layers and surrounds or
protects the embryo.

Yolk Sac: This is a

membrane sac attached
to the embryo.
Day 6
Labeled
Structures

Heart: The heart is a

muscular organ
responsible for pumping
blood through the blood
vessels which then
transports the blood to
the rest of the body.
Day 12
Labeled
Structures
Optic Eyes/Cups: These
are the eyes that are found
on the Medaka egg. The
eyes allow the Medaka to
see its surroundings.

Spleen: This functions as

a reservoir of blood.

Pectoral Fins: These are

paired fins located on each
side of the fish. The fins
act as the forelimbs of the
fish.

Somites: These are

distributed along the sides
of the neural tube that will
eventually become dermis,
muscles, and vertebrae.
Day 12
Labeled
Structures
Continued…
Brain: The brain is the
center of the nervous
center. In vertebrates, it is
located in the head, close
to the sensory apparatus
like vision, hearing, taste,
etc.

Mouth/Jaws: The jaws

form the opening of the
mouth. The mouth is the
natural opening in which
food passes enters into the
body. It encloses the
pharynx, the tongue,
gums, and teeth.
 Resources
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somite
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_anatomy
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spleen
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart
 http://sealifebase.org/glossary/Glossary.php?q=oil%20globule
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorion
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolk_sac
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitelline_membrane
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasm
 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mouth
 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaws
 http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/mepd/medakaStages/MedakaDevStages.html
 http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/BioG101_104/tutorials/Medaka_stills.html
Thank you for
watching our
PowerPoint!