ID help - Weird microorganism

[Javier]

Hi everyone,

This is one of the first videos I got from my first microscope two years ago. I have been trying to identify this weird microorganism for a while, but I have never seen nothing like it. It seems to have cilia, contractile vacuoles and some sort of oral cavity. The contractile structure seems to have a hunting function.

I know the optical quality of the video doesn't help, but does anyone has any idea what this could be?

TIA,
Javier.

[karhukainen]

This looks to me like a vorticella that has detached from whatever substrate it was attached to. They typically lose their contractile stalk when they do that but this one still has it.

[Javier]

Good call! Thank you!

[Bruce Taylor]

Yes, it's a vorticellid, but not necessarily Vorticella (Pseudovorticella is also common, and can look nearly identical).

[Javier]

Thanks Bruce for your input.