Lacrymaria - Dance of Love - Conjugation

[macnmotion]

Lacrymaria - The Dance of Love

My sample was filled with dozens of happy Lacrymaria conjugating. Here are just a few of them. Freshwater sample from Lumpini Park, Bangkok, Thailand.

[Bruce Taylor]

Lovely! The video shows cells in conjugation...i.e. having sex, not dividing.

Division in Lacrymaria (as in most ciliates) is transverse, across the middle of the cell. In division, both the mother and daughter cells would be pointing in the same direction, whereas in conjugation they face one another, joined at the mouth.

[macnmotion]

Lovely! The video shows cells in conjugation...i.e. having sex, not dividing.

Division in Lacrymaria (as in most ciliates) is transverse, across the middle of the cell. In division, both the mother and daughter cells would be pointing in the same direction, whereas in conjugation they face one another, joined at the mouth.

Thank you Bruce! I had found precious little online about Lacrymaria division/conjugation, and eventually convinced myself that a longitudinal division might end at the "mouth" where they would eventually break apart (they have to break apart somewhere!). I'm glad to know what was really happening. I've renamed my video "Lacrymaria - The Dance of Love." I probably should have used a Bachata as the mood music.

Please take a look at this short video, is this showing the early stages of Lacrymaria division? Or is it just damage? As a bonus, the 3rd clip in this video shows this possibly-dividing Lacrymaria gorging itself on cellular material from a dead Copepod. Unfortunately I missed recording the beginning when it first started eating -- I thought the camera was recording but it wasn't. But this is the first time I've seen Lacrymaria eat until it almost bursts.

[Bruce Taylor]

convinced myself that a longitudinal division might end at the "mouth"

True longitudinal division is pretty rare, in ciliates. Peritrichs do it that way (but that is probably a very derived kind of transverse fission, in which the whole organism is rotated by 90 degrees).

is this showing the early stages of Lacrymaria division? Or is it just damage?

Damage, or "monsterism".

[macnmotion]

convinced myself that a longitudinal division might end at the "mouth"

True longitudinal division is pretty rare, in ciliates. Peritrichs do it that way (but that is probably a very derived kind of transverse fission, in which the whole organism is rotated by 90 degrees).

is this showing the early stages of Lacrymaria division? Or is it just damage?

Damage, or "monsterism".

Thank you

[DonSchaeffer]

This belongs in a porno movie! I can't believe these things don't somehow know what they are doing. It's got to be some kind of romance.