King's tricks

[Dennis]

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21A ... 02&o=OneUp

Last year I had the video up on "King" so named because of its size.
Nobody commented and the video might have been a hair long and
I do not know if anyone noticed King's stretching trick and other tricks.
It basically has a body like a potato chip.

[DonSchaeffer]

Beautiful image. Good work.

[macnmotion]

When paramecium meets pole dancing.

Nice video.

[Dennis]

Macnmotion,

That is not a Paramecium.
It is huge.

I am looking through my book- Could be a Frontonia.

[Javier]

You captured an awesome moment, Dennis!

I think that might be an usual scene in the microcosmos, a Frontonia eating a quite long cyanobacteria.

[Bruce Taylor]

Fun! Yes it's Frontonia...probably F. leucas, but if it is longer than 400 micrometres, or so, it could be F. paramagna.

[Dennis]

Javier- I think "King" was just doing tricks not eating. He stretched himself way out
and when he couldn't stretch anymore he had to push that sediment down further to do so.
I am not sure though if he was tasting it cause my book says they can eat cyanobacteria.
(Protozoological Monographs Vol. 3, page 180, 181)

Bruce- Thanks

There is the full video which does show "King" eating-
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21A ... 02&o=OneUp

[Bruce Taylor]

I think "King" was just doing tricks not eating.

Oh, "King" was eating...or trying to eat, at any rate. Frontonia are notorious gluttons, and cyanobacteria is definitely on the menu. This one couldn't get it all in, and had to back off. At the 34 second mark, you can see the critter thrashing around, attempting to break off the strand so that it can be swallowed. This often works! When all goes well, they can ingest long loops of cyanobacteria.

[Dennis]

Thanks again Bruce,

Here the real "show" would have been if that debris wasn't at the end and "Kingy" ate that long bacteria !
There were other ones in that water sample, a few big ones also, but they were movers instead of grazers.
I know the place at Strawbridge Lake and will try in Spring to see one eat large quantities.