Is this Amphileptus and what the heck is going on here?

[billporter1456]

I recently observed what appears to be fission or dividing of a cell DURING conjugation between two cells. I think the organism is Amphileptus. My question is whether fission occurring during conjugation is relatively common in protists. Here is a "rough cut" video showing the completion of fission in one conjugant followed 60 seconds later by conjugation between the "newly born" product of fission and another Amphileptus. Anyone seen this behavior?

[JimT]

Yes, I would say Amphileptus. No idea what's going on but it looks "R" rated.

[75RR]

Good catch and good video.

Here is a link to some images for comparison. According to the author:

"The upper image shows the three protozoa joined in fission and conjugation"

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... eptus.html

[billporter1456]

Yes, I would say Amphileptus. No idea what's going on but it looks "R" rated.

Thanks for confirming the ID. And yes, I do believe that most protists are shameless.

[billporter1456]

Good catch and good video.

Here is a link to some images for comparison. According to the author:

"The upper image shows the three protozoa joined in fission and conjugation"

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... eptus.html

Thanks, 75RR, I also ran across that Web page. I figured that since it was published back in 2000, if people had sent him information about it, he might have updated the page. I have posted links on a couple of forums and no one has commented at all. It seemed very unusual to me, but since I have only been at the hobby for 2-3 years, stuff that may seem unusual to me isn't necessarily that rare an occurrence. I just wanted to find out whether I had captured something fairly common or, as it seemed to me, something strange and unusual. Thanks!