1) The document is a first person account of a Medaka fish egg's development over 13 days in captivity until it finally hatches on the 14th day and gains freedom.
2) During its development, the egg describes forming organs like a heart, bladder, liver, intestines and lower jaw and notes its heartbeat speeding up from 40 to 170 beats per minute.
3) The newly hatched fish needs careful care, including warm water around 60 degrees and no filters, and can grow to 15mm in size over the next 4-6 weeks, living up to 4 years.
2. April 7th, 2011 April 7th, 2011. Day 1 of my captivity. I was first born an unfertilized egg, but then I was activated and started growing. After being shipped to an unknown place somewhere in the western counties of Pennsylvania, I’ve been rudely handled by numerous people. One is a creepy man with dark black hair. Don’t ask me how I know this, for I cannot see yet. It hasn’t been a very long time period since I was first developed. However you can see I have been growing in size and developing my features. I am in stage 5 right now, which means I am about 5 hours old. 5 hours closer to escape!!!
3. April 8th, 2011 April 8th, 2011. Day 2 of my captivity. It has been a day being held hostage in this dreadful place. The only positive thing is the nice clean water. I cannot wait for my freedom when I hatch. Stage 18 is pretty nice. I’ve grown a lot, as you can see in the 26 hours I’ve been around. My plot to escape is being fulfilled. Slowly, but I will be free soon enough. I can’t wait for my heartbeat to develop. I think it would be interesting to know what a heartbeat feels like.
4. April 11th, 2011 April 11th, 2011. Day 5 of my captivity. Today I formed a tubular heart! I’m about 1 day and 17 hours old, which means I am almost half way there!
5. April 12th, 2011 April 12th, 2011. Day 6 of my captivity. My body is starting to move more and more. My tail is finally lifted from the yolk sac and my heart beats about 40 times per minute. I’m getting closer and closer to hatching!
6. April 13th, 2011 April 13th, 2011. Day 7 of my captivity. I formed a bladder! It’s exciting to see how much I’ve grown in just a week. I now have 140 heart beats per minute and my blood is pink.
7. April 14th, 2011 April 14th, 2011. I developed a colorless liver right at the tip of my bladder. I am about 5 days and 1 hour old, so I am getting closer and closer to hatching!
8. April 15th, 2011 April 15th, 2011. Day 9 of my captivity. My intestines are now transparent my heartbeat is 170 beats per minute. I also formed a lower jaw!
9. April 18th, 2011 April 18th, 2011. Day 12 of my captivity. I am starting to thrash around quite a lot. I can’t wait to get out and be free!! My head is straightening out and my spleen has formed between my urinary and swim bladders.
10. April 19th, 2011 April 19th, 2011. Day 13 of my captivity. I have made little progress since yesterday. My heartbeat is still about 170 beats per minute and I am getting so close to hatching!
11. April 20th, 2011 April 20th, 2011. Freedom. I am free at last! I have hatched from my egg and am now spawned into the exciting world. I need lots of care though. Filters must be shut off so I don’t get hurt. I need the water to be about 60 degrees minimum. After about 3 weeks I can be fed chopped up worms and fish food. In about 4 to 6 weeks I can grow to be 15mm. I can live up to 4 years which is quite a long time for a fish!
