Ciliate and diatoms

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Pm turk
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Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2020 2:56 pm

Ciliate and diatoms

#1 Post by Pm turk » Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:46 pm

Recently I noticed a ciliate that appeared to have swallowed a diatom, is this possible? I thought they are tiny bits of food like phytoplankton. It was quite a large ciliate so it could accommodate the diatom easily.

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daruosha
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Location: Tehran, Iran

Re: Ciliate and diatoms

#2 Post by daruosha » Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:15 pm

Post us some pictures. Its a good practice to take pictures (even with your phone) once you found something interesting
Daruosh.

Plasmid
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Re: Ciliate and diatoms

#3 Post by Plasmid » Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:02 pm

Yes it is, Chilodonella's are known to be found with a belly full of diatoms, I encountered one with 7 whole diatoms and 2 partially digested inside of it. The diatoms will remain active inside of it for a while. After finding one with a belly full of diatoms, I added a drop of 70% alcohol to the corner of the slide cover which diluted with the sample, shortly after the Chilodonella lysed and the diatoms started gliding on the water unaffected.

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