Is this Glaucoma?

[frank_prince_iles]

Any help in identifying this ciliate, please
Thanks

Sequence 01.00_00_17_03.Still001.jpg (114.7 KiB) Viewed 967 times

[Bruce Taylor]

It's not Glaucoma. This critter has a large vacuole in the posterior of the cell, a feature we don't see in Glaucoma. I can see why you're thinking of that genus...that structure in the middle (or just anterior of the middle) looks rather like illustrations of Glaucoma's mouth, which is oblique (angled) and has large and very active membranes on each side, which can look somewhat like lips. However, the "lips" here do not appear to be membranes, and I don't think this is the mouth. I think it is ingested matter, possibly a diatom. Unfortunately, we don't see the actual mouth, so identification would be a wild guess.

[frank_prince_iles]

Thanks.