Laackmanniella prolongata

This is a tintinnid ciliate, a planktonic grazer of phytoplankton and other small organisms of the marine plankton. Originally described by Hans Laackmann (1907), this species, common in the waters of Antarctica, is restricted to the Southern Ocean, one of the Southern Ocean endemic species (Dolan et al. 2012).

It was recently re-described by Kim et al. (2013).The lorica (shell) is bipartite: an anterior collar portion is tubular and hyaline with several spiral turns. A posterior portion, also cylindrical, is agglutinated with mineral particles or many diatoms and tapers to an open posterior end. The lorica is 145–214 µm in length and 30–40 m in width. The collar length of the lorica is 50–120 µm. Thelorica oral diameter diameter (large anterior open end) of the lorica is 32–40 µm.The bowl length of the lorica ranges from 65 to 127m. The open posterior end of the lorica has a diameter of 12–30 µm.

WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species page for Laackmanniella prolongata