What are these nice freshwater ciliates?

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NachoBen
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What are these nice freshwater ciliates?

#1 Post by NachoBen » Mon Jun 05, 2023 4:39 pm

I have to admit that this time I have no idea which way to look...





Thank you very much for any suggestion, however small!

Bruce Taylor
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Re: What are these nice freshwater ciliates?

#2 Post by Bruce Taylor » Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:48 pm

The first one appears to be the fragment of a hypotrich (unless you find a whole population of them, in which case we need to look more closely :D). It is moving in a way that looks unnatural, to me, so I think it is a damaged organism and not a recent divider.

The second one appears to be a heterotrich. The arrangement of membranelles and location of the CV suggests a swimming Stentor. However, the creature is completely acontractile, and the cortex seems oddly stiff and irregular. It does not look like a healthy specimen. So, I would suspect a Stentor that has come into contact with a chemical or pathogen that has affected its cortex and myonemes.

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NachoBen
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Re: What are these nice freshwater ciliates?

#3 Post by NachoBen » Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:09 pm

Thank you very much for taking your time to watch and analyze my videos, Bruce.

Your considerations are very interesting to me. Regarding the first video, I have not found more critters like that. At first, I thought it could be a Hypotrich, later I thought of Lembadion and, finally, I returned to the Hypotrich hypothesis, but I was unable to identify even the genus. It is very plausible that it could be a teratological specimen. In fact, it is common to see deformed or monstrous Hypotrichs. It is a pity, because it was a very nice bug to be a new species! ;)

As for the second, I have not found other similar organisms either, but I did observe at the time an important population of Stentor roeseli that, little by little, gave way to a population of Stentor coeruleus.

It is always worth asking. Thank you!

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