Ciliates

These cells, all from the same sample, found themselves stuck to the glass - so here are Tintinnids trying to get away!

These cells, all from the same sample, found themselves stuck to the glass - so here are Tintinnids trying to get away!

[taxonomy:genus=Vorticella] Date: 23 Aug 2011 Location: Small lake in Kent Ridge Park. Water margin with vegetation, brown sediment with organic detritus. Tadpoles resting nearby. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm

[taxonomy:binomial=Euplotes woodruffi] Large hypotrich ciliate. Date: 7 Sep 2011, originally collected 6 Sep 2011 Location: Freshwater stream flowing out of MacRitchie Reservoir, close to Venus Drive entrance. On field trip with NUS freshwater biology class. Stream was brown with sandy bottom, water mostly clear. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

[taxonomy:binomial=Euplotes woodruffi] Date: 7 Sep 2011, originally collected 6 Sep 2011 Location: Freshwater stream flowing out of MacRitchie Reservoir, close to Venus Drive entrance. On field trip with NUS freshwater biology class. Stream was brown with sandy bottom, water mostly clear. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

[taxonomy:genus=Mesodinium] Date: 9 Sep 2011, originally collected mid-Aug Location: Freshwater fish pond in concrete tank, outside Life Science Lab 7. Walls were covered in filamentous cyanobacteria, and the bottom with fish waste. Water was mostly clear. Pipetted sample from floc at bottom of tube which has settled after > two weeks Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

[taxonomy:genus=Aspidisca] Aspidisca is a hypotrich ciliate that uses its cirri (compound ciliated structures) to "walk" like a tiny insect across the surface it is exploring.

[taxonomy:genus=Disematostoma] Date: 7 Sep 2011, originally collected 6 Sep 2011 Location: Freshwater stream flowing out of MacRitchie Reservoir, close to Venus Drive entrance. On field trip with NUS freshwater biology class. Stream was brown with sandy bottom, water mostly clear. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

[taxonomy:genus=Halteria] Halteria is a ciliate with a 'crown' of membranelles (an adoral zone of membranelles, AZM) on one end of the cell, and spine-like structures radiating from the equatorial region of the cell. In this video, a Halteria cell has oriented itself head-on upon the slide or coverslip surface and so its rotational motion is evident. At one point, it orients obliquely, and because it is anchored by something to the surface, it spins around in a circle. From a sample that has been kept for >1 week. Originally collected from pond, NUS botany garden.

[taxonomy:genus=Halteria] Darting behavior of Halteria, an oligotrich ciliate. The darting characterizes this genus.

[taxonomy:genus=Stylonychia] Date: 9 Sep 2011, originally collected mid-Aug Location: Freshwater fish pond in concrete tank, outside Life Science Lab 7. Walls were covered in filamentous cyanobacteria, and the bottom with fish waste. Water was mostly clear. Pipetted sample from floc at bottom of tube which has settled after > two weeks Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

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]

[taxonomy:binomial=Licnophora macfarlandi] Ciliates among debris and microinvertebrates from Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Summer 2009 The cell has a 'head' with active cilia used for feeding, connected via a stalk to a sucker-like base, which it uses to adhere to substrate. The base is capable of rotating and reorienting the cell. Imaging: Phase contrast

Ciliate from the family Folliculinidae, from a surface colonization experiment deployed at the margin of mangrove forest at Twin Cayes, Belize. The "bunny ears" are known as peristomal wings, and they carry part of the oral ciliature involved in feeding. [taxonomy:family=Folliculinidae]

[taxonomy:genus=Cinetochilum] A scuticociliate with ventral ciliature and a flattened-oval body. It swims around and also uses its cilia to "walk" on substrates, as this video shows. Three long "tail" (caudal) cilia.

[taxonomy:genus=Thuricola] This is a ciliate living inside a vase-shaped "lorica", or shell, that comes with its own lid that shuts behind the cell when it retracts into its den. Unfortunately, my attempt to "tap on the glass" and have it retract were not successful. Note the streaming of particles in the water due to the feeding current set up by the cilia of the creature.

[taxonomy:genus=Coleps] [taxonomy:genus=Anthophysa] Date: 23 Aug 2011 Location: Small lake in Kent Ridge Park. Water margin with vegetation, brown sediment with organic detritus. Tadpoles resting nearby. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm

[taxonomy:genus=Urocentrum] Date: 7 Sep 2011, originally collected 6 Sep 2011 Location: Freshwater stream flowing out of MacRitchie Reservoir, close to Venus Drive entrance. On field trip with NUS freshwater biology class. Stream was brown with sandy bottom, water mostly clear. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)

[taxonomy:genus=Urocentrum] Date: 7 Sep 2011, originally collected 6 Sep 2011 Location: Freshwater stream flowing out of MacRitchie Reservoir, close to Venus Drive entrance. On field trip with NUS freshwater biology class. Stream was brown with sandy bottom, water mostly clear. Microscope: Bright-field with closed condenser aperture. Camera: Nikon D7000 Collector: Brandon Seah Scale: 20830 pixels/mm = 20.8 pixels/µm (40x)