Flagellates and Ciliates

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mintakax
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Flagellates and Ciliates

#1 Post by mintakax » Wed Sep 25, 2019 5:47 am

A video of a few drops from a boiled corn culture I made a week or so ago. There were hundreds of small amoebas but I liked the look of the flagellates and ciliates. The flagellates were captured with a 40x S Plan S App and the rest with a 20x Splan Apo. Olympus BHS/BH2 DIC and Nikon Z6 camera.

https://vimeo.com/362211781

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75RR
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#2 Post by 75RR » Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:10 am

Interesting to see the amount of bacteria that can grow when fed.

I am with W. C. Fields on this ...

Did you add a little water from the pot you boiled the corn in to a pond sample?
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Hobbyst46
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#3 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Sep 25, 2019 7:01 am

A very attractive video!
- was the specimen mounted on a well slide or a regular flat slide ?
- there are elongated, cylindical creatures with "mouths" that remind of rotifers. are those flagellates ?
- (same ignorance in critters) I fail to notice the amoebas, would you direct to a location in the image if I pause the video at a given moment ?
Thanks for the video and thanks in advance for answers.

mintakax
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#4 Post by mintakax » Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:27 pm

75RR wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:10 am
Interesting to see the amount of bacteria that can grow when fed.

I am with W. C. Fields on this ...

Did you add a little water from the pot you boiled the corn in to a pond sample?
Thanks 75RR . I dropped a boiled corn kernel into the small Petri dish with the sample

mintakax
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#5 Post by mintakax » Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:32 pm

Hobbyst46 wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 7:01 am
A very attractive video!
- was the specimen mounted on a well slide or a regular flat slide ?
- there are elongated, cylindical creatures with "mouths" that remind of rotifers. are those flagellates ?
- (same ignorance in critters) I fail to notice the amoebas, would you direct to a location in the image if I pause the video at a given moment ?
Thanks for the video and thanks in advance for answers.
Thanks ! It was a flat slide. I examine slide with a stereo microscope and if no large creatures are present I put on a slide cover.

My "assumption" is that those elongated creatures are a ciliates. I was going to attempt to track them down. If they are not ciliates I would like to know.

Sorry, I didn't explain the amoebas well. I didn't video them because they did not make good subjects.

Timemaster1212
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#6 Post by Timemaster1212 » Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:12 pm

Lovely video! You keep mentioning you dropped the kernel into a sample, however where was the sample from? I am assuming a local pond no? If so how stable is such a culture?

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#7 Post by charlie g » Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:12 pm

Wonderful image capture of that rich world , thanks for sharing it dan. Really crisp optical focus of the variety of protists...thank you for this encounter. Charlie guevara

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#8 Post by mintakax » Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:37 pm

Timemaster1212 wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:12 pm
Lovely video! You keep mentioning you dropped the kernel into a sample, however where was the sample from? I am assuming a local pond no? If so how stable is such a culture?
Thank you ! I can say that the sample originated from the smelly ooze at the shore of a local pond. The original sample went into a covered plastic milk jug that I keep alongside my "pond aquarium", then I put some detritus from that jug into a petri dish with some of the water and dropped a kernel of boiled corn into that. That culture is 10 days old. The water in it is thick and "milky". As for the stability, I have no idea. I really don't know what I'm doing :?

mintakax
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#9 Post by mintakax » Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:37 pm

charlie g wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:12 pm
Wonderful image capture of that rich world , thanks for sharing it dan. Really crisp optical focus of the variety of protists...thank you for this encounter. Charlie guevara
Thank you Charlie !

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#10 Post by Sauerkraut » Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:10 pm

Nice video and DIC.

Could that long, thin protist be Spirostomum?

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#11 Post by Timemaster1212 » Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:42 pm

mintakax wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:37 pm
Thank you ! I can say that the sample originated from the smelly ooze at the shore of a local pond. The original sample went into a covered plastic milk jug that I keep alongside my "pond aquarium", then I put some detritus from that jug into a petri dish with some of the water and dropped a kernel of boiled corn into that. That culture is 10 days old. The water in it is thick and "milky". As for the stability, I have no idea. I really don't know what I'm doing :?


haha, well thats fantastic! do keep us updated on how the culture goes! I am doing some research on culturing things for my outreach project, id love to see how your process goes!

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Wes
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#12 Post by Wes » Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:22 pm

Lovely cinematographic work, I really enjoy these videos! I find it very peculiar that you see swarms of tiny flagellates because thats exactly what I saw after doing a boiled corn culture simultaneously with you back a week or two ago. Probably a just a coincidence, towards the later days of the culture I could already see very large ciliates with the naked eye but assumed they're paramecia and didn't investigate further. Overall it made me wonder whether bacteria come first, then small eukaryotes because of their small genomes and large surface to volume ratio giving them a replicative speed advantage and eventually the bigger microbes get to the apex of the food chain.

Here is what the tiny flagellates I found look like. They're about 10 µm in size (sort of averaged), have 2 flagella that I could see, happy to eat bacteria (can see some wrapped up in food vacuoles) and possess a orange eyespot near the flagella base.

Image
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#13 Post by Bruce Taylor » Wed Sep 25, 2019 11:46 pm

Sauerkraut wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:10 pm
Nice video and DIC.

Could that long, thin protist be Spirostomum?
Yes, lovely (and lively!) video. :D

No, the long ciliates are not Spirostomum, but a species of vermiform hypotrich. Mobile cirri and a spirotrich-type adoral zone of membranelles are visible at times, especially around the 1:13 mark. I am doubtful that we can identify them below subclass level. There are quite a few long, skinny hypotrichs, from a variety of genera...e.g. Hemisincirra, Vermioxytricha, Circinella, Engelmanniella mobilis.

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#14 Post by mintakax » Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:10 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 11:46 pm
Sauerkraut wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:10 pm
Nice video and DIC.

Could that long, thin protist be Spirostomum?
Yes, lovely (and lively!) video. :D

No, the long ciliates are not Spirostomum, but a species of vermiform hypotrich. Mobile cirri and a spirotrich-type adoral zone of membranelles are visible at times, especially around the 1:13 mark. I am doubtful that we can identify them below subclass level. There are quite a few long, skinny hypotrichs, from a variety of genera...e.g. Hemisincirra, Vermioxytricha, Circinella, Engelmanniella mobilis.
Thanks Bruce-- I was pursuing Fresh-water Biology (Ward and Whipple) and thought that Urochaemia might be a possibility ?

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#15 Post by mintakax » Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:17 am

Wes wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:22 pm
Lovely cinematographic work, I really enjoy these videos! I find it very peculiar that you see swarms of tiny flagellates because thats exactly what I saw after doing a boiled corn culture simultaneously with you back a week or two ago. Probably a just a coincidence, towards the later days of the culture I could already see very large ciliates with the naked eye but assumed they're paramecia and didn't investigate further. Overall it made me wonder whether bacteria come first, then small eukaryotes because of their small genomes and large surface to volume ratio giving them a replicative speed advantage and eventually the bigger microbes get to the apex of the food chain.

Here is what the tiny flagellates I found look like. They're about 10 µm in size (sort of averaged), have 2 flagella that I could see, happy to eat bacteria (can see some wrapped up in food vacuoles) and possess a orange eyespot near the flagella base.

Thank you Wes ! Interesting that you seen flagellate swarms as well. The size of the individuals in my video were around 15 um average. Are you seeing a lot of small amoebas and cysts and flagellates that look like they are all related ? The thought that I am breeding a culture of Naegleria Fowleri (the brain eating amoeba) is creeping me out. But much of what I am seeing supports this. I guess this is a common amoeba ?

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#16 Post by mintakax » Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:18 am

Sauerkraut wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:10 pm
Nice video and DIC.

Could that long, thin protist be Spirostomum?
Thanks Heather !

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#17 Post by Bruce Taylor » Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:22 am

mintakax wrote:
Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:10 am
Thanks Bruce-- I was pursuing Fresh-water Biology (Ward and Whipple) and thought that Urochaemia might be a possibility ?
Nope. :) These are certainly hypotrichs, and Urochaenia is an enchelyid (in a whole different subclass).

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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#18 Post by mintakax » Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:57 am

Bruce Taylor wrote:
Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:22 am
mintakax wrote:
Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:10 am
Thanks Bruce-- I was pursuing Fresh-water Biology (Ward and Whipple) and thought that Urochaemia might be a possibility ?
Nope. :) These are certainly hypotrichs, and Urochaenia is an enchelyid (in a whole different subclass).
I am really glad that there are people like you around Bruce :) . I am failing so miserably at identifying these microorganisms. Hypotrich is close enough for me and its great to have something more detailed than protozoa for a change !

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Wes
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Re: Flagellates and Ciliates

#19 Post by Wes » Sat Sep 28, 2019 9:44 pm

mintakax wrote:
Thu Sep 26, 2019 12:17 am
Wes wrote:
Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:22 pm
Lovely cinematographic work, I really enjoy these videos! I find it very peculiar that you see swarms of tiny flagellates because thats exactly what I saw after doing a boiled corn culture simultaneously with you back a week or two ago. Probably a just a coincidence, towards the later days of the culture I could already see very large ciliates with the naked eye but assumed they're paramecia and didn't investigate further. Overall it made me wonder whether bacteria come first, then small eukaryotes because of their small genomes and large surface to volume ratio giving them a replicative speed advantage and eventually the bigger microbes get to the apex of the food chain.

Here is what the tiny flagellates I found look like. They're about 10 µm in size (sort of averaged), have 2 flagella that I could see, happy to eat bacteria (can see some wrapped up in food vacuoles) and possess a orange eyespot near the flagella base.

Thank you Wes ! Interesting that you seen flagellate swarms as well. The size of the individuals in my video were around 15 um average. Are you seeing a lot of small amoebas and cysts and flagellates that look like they are all related ? The thought that I am breeding a culture of Naegleria Fowleri (the brain eating amoeba) is creeping me out. But much of what I am seeing supports this. I guess this is a common amoeba ?
I never saw any amoeba in this particular sample. I did however see tiny worms covered in cilia that had stolen intact stinging cells from what I presume to be Hydra (apparently much more common occurrence that I imagined).
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