portrait

Description:

Rhynchomonas (rink-owe-moan-ass) one of these most widely distributed of all eukaryotes, having been found in marine and freshwater sites all round the world, in anoxic sites and in sites with so much salt that crystals form. Its tolerance for extremes now also illustrated by its occurrence in a thermal stream. This is a bodonid, the anterior nose contains a mouth with which it eats bacteria, and with one trailing flagellum which narrows towards the posterior end. Phase contrast. Material from Nymph Creek, thermal sites within Yellowstone National Park, photograph by Kathy Sheehan and David Patterson.