I was first confused and thought this ciliate is Trithigmostoma cucullulus, Both ciliates have a comparable body shape, have a distinctive mouth funnel and impress by numerous eaten diatoms, which sometimes fill the whole body length of the ciliate:
Two specimens of different sizes from Z. transverses. A size of 130-250 µm is mentioned in the Ciliaten Atlas.
The color of the eaten diatomae make them quite interesting to observe, on the other hand, the numerous diatoms also hide many details, making documentation difficult and only possible to a limited extent. Nevertheless I would like to show some photos here. As far as I interpret it correctly, the details shown fit on Zosterodasys transversa. I am very grateful for hints, comments and corrections.
R = Reuse
Ma = Makronucleus
Mi = Mikronucleus
M = Cytostom (mouth).
Sy = Synhymenium.
R = the cage (?) consists of 12-18 strong rods which are bent in front like knees. In Trithigmostoma they have 2 small teeth in the front.
I would like to cross link directly to Ole Riemanns photo that he shared in the german forum for Trithigmostoma : I think you can clearly see the 2 small teeth mentioned also by Foissner in his Ciliate Atlas:
https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/pictur ... 980820.jpg
Sources:
Ole Riemann: Blue-green algae camp biocoenosis (supplemented on 15.10.) - https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/index. ... #msg222166
Martin Kreutz: Trithigmostoma cucullulus - https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/index. ... 1#msg28101
Foissner's Ciliate Atlas, Volume III, page 421.
