An amoeba hunting for food I

Here a large amoeba is actively hunting and catching food in various ways. When a food particle becomes caught on the tip of the pseudopodium, the pseudopodium carries the food to the center of its body, by becoming shorter and broader until the food is engulfed.

Commentary by Prof. Yuji Tsukii, Hosei University
This organism is possibly a floating Vannella.

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

It usually attaches onto solid surfaces and appears like a flat fan, but when it is torn off from the surface by water movement, it transforms into a radial shape.

Floating in water, Vanella expands its narrow pseudopodia to find a new surface to which it can attach.

Vanella looks for food - bacteria and small protozoa - as it moves along solid surfaces.

Sampling Date : 09 August 2009

Sampling Site : Hirose River B  Google Map