Protostomatida

Trachelocerca phoenicopterus.

Ciliates from the family Trachelocercidae (Karyorelictea) are commonly known as swan-necked ciliates. They are only found between the sand grains in marine sediment, and so they are rarely seen by casual observers. Here are two swan-neck ciliates swimming about while in conjugation. Collected from Twin Cayes, Belize. Filmed on 2015-07-04. [taxonomy:family=Trachelocercidae]

Ciliates from the family Trachelocercidae (Karyorelictea) are commonly known as swan-necked ciliates. They are only found between the sand grains in marine sediment, and so they are rarely seen by casual observers. Here are two swan-neck ciliates swimming about while in conjugation. Collected from Twin Cayes, Belize. Filmed on 2015-07-04. [taxonomy:family=Trachelocercidae]

Trachelocercid ciliates, commonly known as "swan-necked ciliates", live in marine sediment. This video shows how they make tentative movements with their knob-shaped head, and how they can contract quite quickly from time to time. [taxonomy:family=Trachelocercidae]

Trachelocercid ciliates, commonly known as "swan-necked ciliates", live in marine sediment. This video shows how they make tentative movements with their knob-shaped head, and how they can contract quite quickly from time to time. Instead of swimming only with the head pointing forward, as one might expect it to, it sometimes switches direction and glides along with the "head" trailing in the back! At one point it stops to pick around in a clump of debris. Is it picking up food particles through its "mouth" at the end of the head, or is it simply trying to find a way through the debris? Collected from marine sediment on the coast of Denmark. Thanks to the Marine Biological Section of the University of Copenhagen for hosting our visit. [taxonomy:family=Trachelocercidae]

Kentrophoros sp. H from Elba, Italy. Imaging and 3D reconstruction by Thomas Schwaha (University of Vienna). All Kentrophoros ciliates have ectosymbiotic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. These bacteria form a dense coat on one side of the ciliate cell. In this particular species, the symbiont-bearing side is heavily folded into pouch-like structures, visible in the animated section series as the brighter regions. In the 3D surface model, the yellow region is the ciliate cell body, the blue region is the volume occupied by the bacteria, and in red are the three nuclei of the ciliate cell. [taxonomy:genus=Kentrophoros]

Kentrophoros is a ciliate with symbiotic bacteria, which it uses as a food source. Find out more about our research at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology: http://www.mpi-bremen.de/Page7717.html#Section25339 [taxonomy:phylum=Ciliophora] [taxonomy:genus=Kentrophoros]

Trachelocerca chinensis is marine karyorelictid ciliate. This ciliate was collected from a mangrove wetland (2115'N 11037'E) in Zhanjiang, China. Image taken by Ying Yan.

Prototrachelocerca fasciolata is a marine karyorelictid ciliate. It was collected from a sandy beach near Qingdao (3555N, 12012E) on Apirl 18, 2012. Image taken by Ying Yan.

Trachelocerca orientalis is a marine ciliate belonging to class Karyorelictea. It was collected from the intertidal zone (3605N, 12027E) in Qingdao, China on April 8, 202. Image taken by Ying Yan.

Peniscola, Valencia, Spain

Tracheloraphis huangi is a marine ciliate belonging to class Karyorelictea. Body is flexible and contractile. This ciliate was isolated from a sandy beach in north Qingdao (3614N, 12040E) on June 13, 2012. Image taken by Ying Yan.

Tracheloraphis (track-ell-owe-ray-fiss) is a karyorelict ciliate. It is one of several genera in which most species have adopted a long thin contractile body form and the identification of this cell is tentative. Mostly found in marine sediments, living within the spaces between sand grains. The anterior end is slightly expanded and thought by most but not all to the site of the mouth, others think these cells feed through the ventral surface. Phase contrast.

Tracheloraphis (track-ell-owe-ray-fiss) is a karyorelict ciliate. It is one of several genera in which most species have adopted a long thin contractile body form and the identification of this cell is tentative. Mostly found in marine sediments, living within the spaces between sand grains. The anterior end is slightly expanded and thought by most but not all to the site of the mouth, others think these cells feed through the ventral surface. Phase contrast.

Tracheloraphis (track-ell-owe-ray-fiss) is a karyorelict ciliate. It is one of several genera in which most species have adopted a long thin contractile body form and the identification of this cell is tentative. Mostly found in marine sediments, living within the spaces between sand grains. The anterior end is slightly expanded and thought b y most but not all to the site of the mouth. Fairly common. Differential interference contrast.

Tracheloraphis (track-ell-owe-ray-fiss) is a karyorelict ciliate. It is one of several genera in which most species have adopted a long thin contractile body form and the identification of this cell is tentative. Mostly found in marine sediments, living within the spaces between sand grains. The anterior end is slightly expanded and thought by most but not all to the site of the mouth. Fairly common. Phase contrast

Portrait of the marine interstitial trachelocercid ciliate, Tracheloraphis (Dragesco, 1958). This genus contains many species and identification at the species level is quite difficult. Tracheloraphis is highly contractile. This view shows a contracted individual. Some species are greater than 2 millimeters in length when extended. The left side of the organism Seen here) bears a long unciliated "glabrous stripe". The inconspicuous cytostome is at the anterior apex. There is an inconspicuous cleft on the left margin of the cytostome. Morphology of the macronuclei is highly variable with as few as four to more than 50 macronuclei usually grouped in clusters of two or more. There are multiple micronuclei. Collected from a commercial marine aquarium in Boise, Idaho January 2004. DIC optics.

Anterior detail of the marine interstitial trachelocercid ciliate, Tracheloraphis (Dragesco, 1958). This genus contains many species and identification at the species level is quite difficult. Tracheloraphis is highly contractile. This view shows an extended individual. Some species are greater than 2 millimeters in length when extended. The left side of the organism (seen here) bears a long unciliated "glabrous stripe". The inconspicuous cytostome is at the anterior apex. An inconspicuous cleft is seen on the left side of the cytostome. Some authors have suggested that ingestion occurs along the glabrous stripe in Tracheloraphis but this view has been largely discounted. Morphology of the macronuclei is highly variable with as few as four to more than 50 macronuclei usually grouped in clusters of two or more. There are multiple micronuclei. Collected from a commercial marine aquarium in Boise, Idaho January 2004. DIC optics.

Portrait of the marine interstitial trachelocercid ciliate, Tracheloraphis (Dragesco, 1958). This genus contains many species and identification at the species level is quite difficult. Tracheloraphis is highly contractile. This view shows an extended individual. Some species are greater than 2 millimeters in length when extended. The left side of the organism bears a long unciliated "glabrous stripe". The inconspicuous cytostome is at the anterior apex. Morphology of the macronuclei is highly variable with as few as four to more than 50 macronuclei usually grouped in clusters of two or more. There are multiple micronuclei. Collected from a commercial marine aquarium in Boise, Idaho January 2004. DIC optics. 

Detail view of the marine interstitial trachelocercid ciliate, Tracheloraphis (Dragesco, 1958)showing the macronuclei. This genus contains many species and identification at the species level is quite difficult. Tracheloraphis is highly contractile. Some species are greater than 2 millimeters in length when extended. The left side of the organism bears a long unciliated "glabrous stripe". The inconspicuous cytostome is at the anterior apex. Morphology of the macronuclei is highly variable with as few as four to more than 50 macronuclei usually grouped in clusters of two or more.This species has a central cluster of at least five macronuclei. There are multiple micronuclei. Collected from a commercial marine aquarium in Boise, Idaho January 2004. DIC optics. 

Detail view of the marine trachelocercid ciliate, Tracheloraphis (Dragesco, 1958). This genus contains many species and identification at the species level is quite difficult. This view shows the completely ciliated right side. The left side of the organism bears a long unciliated "glabrous stripe". This view shows ingestion of a dinoflagellate at the expansible anterior apical cytostome. Some authors have suggested that ingestion occurs along the glabrous stripe in Tracheloraphis but this view has been largely discounted. Collected from a commercial marine aquarium in Boise, Idaho January 2004. DIC optics. 

This is one of the many species of karyorelict ciliates that are long, thin, contractile and live between the grains of sediment of fine sandy beaches.

Karyorelectid ciliate collected at Chappaquoit marsh, MA. Cell is highly contracted. Photo by Becky Zufall.