Another mystery ciliate
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Another mystery ciliate
I captured this little guy zooming around my slide and finally decided to take an image and measure it. Turns out he comes in as a super lightweight at 5.6 um. None of my searches show any ciliate on the planet being smaller than 10 um. I agree the image is practically useless but is the best I've been able to get. You can definitely see the cilia whirling around as it scoots through the water.
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw3xwe8hdZCKmpdHj0ebdvATRKSYA9pn_t_xUjsCJrZsJDqorAlFZZ1JlWTDkqYhyphenhyphenonfTtBq-6TNf-_VgibJyaK_cbE_lgxn719j2oj9yfII_ko6spxazmlEdZhDcv1k_JFaTXn0t41zK5TZRVLTsNtGPaff8fa5MNSSc8CyA2lIXPdOYQ_zjuYWklgu_I/s403/IMG_1449_crop.JPG)
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Re: Another mystery ciliate
Cilia are a widespread cellular mechanism for both locomotion and locomoting substances. There are ciliated reproductive bodies or lifecycle stages that mimic a ciliated organism in form. Flagellated too, some quite small. In the previous query for instance, I mentioned a blastocyte or more likely a blastodisc because there are species that temporarily utilize cilia on their primitive reproductive bodies as an effective mechanism for translocating the embryo. Some fish and I think some invertebrates too.
This little one, I don't have any idea about but it could be a reproductive body.
This little one, I don't have any idea about but it could be a reproductive body.
Last edited by apochronaut on Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 111
- Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:38 pm
- Location: La Salle, Manitoba, Canada
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Re: Another mystery ciliate
Thanks, that makes sense.