MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I recently observed a number of the ciliated protist Dileptus actively feeding in a sample I had collected. I observed one of them ingesting a rotifer, basically stuffing it into its mouth! Unfortunately, I was not able to film this, but I did film one actively feeding. The photo below is a included to note a couple of features of Dileptus. Its most prominent feature is the contractile, highly mobile neck at the anterior of the cell. The mouth is positioned at the base of the neck. There are also a number of small contractile vacuoles along the dorsal surface of the cell. Some examples are shown at the arrowheads. There is also another larger contractile vacuole (CV) that can be seen. This photo was taken with a Canon 1300D camera and an Amscope adapter. The microscope is a Zeiss Photomicroscope III, 16x Neofluar objective, 1.25x optovar, DIC, flash. Here is the video. Guest appearances are made by the ciliate Trachelius and a gastrotrich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuraHqmVd44

Really nice. Which objective did you use?

Fascinating observation, Tim. Thanks for posting.

Crusty wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 02, 2022 11:31 pm

Really nice. Which objective did you use?

tlansing wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 02, 2022 3:47 pm

The microscope is a Zeiss Photomicroscope III, 16x Neofluar objective, 1.25x optovar, DIC, flash.

Hi Crusty and Wes, thanks for the kind comments. Crusty, as Wes noted, a 16x Neofluar objective was used and everything was the same as the photo except no flash.