(It may be hard to make out, but in the third image the cell body is on the left side of the image, and the stalk is towards the upper right).
Unusual Vorticella?
Unusual Vorticella?
I found this Vorticella in a freshwater pond, and was watching it feed and contract it's stalk. The stalk wasn't attached to a substrate (I've never observed this before). After a few minutes its stalk separated from its body and drifted away, and the specimen started swimming freely. As far as I'm aware they start their lives off free-swimming, but later develop the stalk. This one seemed to do the reverse, going from sessile to motile. Is something they do normally or did I witness something weird? Do they shed the stalks if they come detached from a substrate? That could have happened while I was preparing the slide.
(It may be hard to make out, but in the third image the cell body is on the left side of the image, and the stalk is towards the upper right).
(It may be hard to make out, but in the third image the cell body is on the left side of the image, and the stalk is towards the upper right).
Last edited by kwesi on Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Unusual Vorticella?
I think I've seen this happen and have also seen critters without stalks I suspected (maybe wrongly) were Vorticella. I found this reference:
"When conditions become adverse, the Vorticella can develop cilia around its base and detach itself from its stalk to swim freely in search of a more congenial environment; whereupon it attaches again and generates another stalk. The free-swimming organism is called a telotroch, and in this form can be difficult to recognize as a Vorticella."
https://www.micrographia.com/specbiol/p ... ri0100.htm
"When conditions become adverse, the Vorticella can develop cilia around its base and detach itself from its stalk to swim freely in search of a more congenial environment; whereupon it attaches again and generates another stalk. The free-swimming organism is called a telotroch, and in this form can be difficult to recognize as a Vorticella."
https://www.micrographia.com/specbiol/p ... ri0100.htm
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DonSchaeffer
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Re: Unusual Vorticella?
Vorticella apparently don't have stalks until they reach a certain age. Love your images.
Re: Unusual Vorticella?
Not my area, but what an interesting observation. Very interesting also to learn of it's ability to detach and as said, search for more favourable conditions befor growing a new stalk!
Would be great to be able to make permanent-mounts of the different stages/forms of such a creature.....
Very nice post , thanks for taking the time to share.
Would be great to be able to make permanent-mounts of the different stages/forms of such a creature.....
Very nice post , thanks for taking the time to share.
John B
Re: Unusual Vorticella?
Nice captures!
Did you see this wonderful episode from JTTM about Peritrich Ciliates?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHpXfepuWA
Did you see this wonderful episode from JTTM about Peritrich Ciliates?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHpXfepuWA
Re: Unusual Vorticella?
Hi Kwesi,
I once placed a duck weed on a slide, the stem of the weed was covered with vorticella, within minuets of my observing the vorticella had sensed the change in their conditions and abandoned their "stalks" and where "buzzing" around the slide.
Peter.
I once placed a duck weed on a slide, the stem of the weed was covered with vorticella, within minuets of my observing the vorticella had sensed the change in their conditions and abandoned their "stalks" and where "buzzing" around the slide.
Peter.
Re: Unusual Vorticella?
The Vorticella is a good example of the amazingly complex behavior that can be exhibited by a single-celled organism that doesn't even have a nervous system.