The front of this slendar ciliate is like a long bottle-neck and its rear end is like a needle. Both ends are denbsly covered with cilia. The organism forages for food by repeatedly inserting its head into a particle and quickly withdrawing it. The enlarged view shows food being transferred from its mouth to the inside of the body.
Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University This organism belongs to genus Uroleptus.
It might be Uroleptus limnetis, but we can’t be sure.
A ciliate is foraging on the surface of particles with a mouth at the end of its bottleneck. Its slendar body tapers at the rear end, and both front and rear are covered with dense cilia.
Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University This organism belongs to genus Uroleptus.
First we see a small ciliate, Aspidisca, passing through a space surrounded by particles. Then a large slender ciliate appears and begins to look for food. We can see a small ciliate in the process of division beside one of the particles.
Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University The organism approaching from the lower right may be Aspidisca cicada
(previously called Aspidisca costata).
This slender ciliate 300 microns long is busily looking for food. It repeatedly darts forward and backward, and sometimes changes directions. The ciliate happens to catch a diatom in its mouth, but soon spits it out.
Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University This organism is Uroleptus .
A slender ciliate 300 microns long busily darts forward and backward as it hunts for food. First it bites a smaller ciliate, but immediately spits it out. Later it excretes a diatom from the rear end of its body.
Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University This organism is Uroleptus .
