Ciliate feeding behavior

A large flat ciliate, which may be Euplotes, feeds by standing still, moving only the cirri surrounding its mouth and rear. We can see plenty of food in its vacuole.

Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University
This organism is likely to be Stylonychia mytilus, although we cannot see three cirri at the rear end when typically there are three.

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/PDB/Im.....

Even in Helmut Berger’s, Monograph of the Oxytrichidae (Ciliophora, Hypotrichia), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, there are no Stylonychia having only one cirrus. We can assume that this organism may have lost its other two cirri.

Sampling Date : 03 July 2009

Sampling Site : Hirose River B  Google Map