Ciliophrys

Colourless cells occurring in two different stages. Sessile (feeding) cells with granular 'tentacles over the entire cell surface. Flagellum inactive or moving very slowly in a figure-of-eight posture. Attached to a substrate with a very short stalk. The cell may change within a few minutes to a swimming condition, in which the tentacles are more or less retracted and the flagellum moves in a typical pedinellid fashion. The cell feeds on bacteria or very small protists which are caught on the tentacles, transported to the cell body and ingested; marine and fresh water.