and again Loxophyllum......
This picture just is the intro to a DIVX Video Clip here:
http://home.arcor.de/gerd-a.guenther/vi ... ophyll.avi
Only in Video you see this majestically movement of this wonderful ciliate.
Thanks,
Gerd
Loxophyllum meleagris
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Loxophyllum meleagris
and again Loxophyllum......
This picture just is the intro to a DIVX Video Clip here:
http://home.arcor.de/gerd-a.guenther/vi ... ophyll.avi
Only in Video you see this majestically movement of this wonderful ciliate.
Thanks,
Gerd
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rjlittlefield
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Simply wonderful! 
I am struck that this thing moves like a mollusk -- all of the innards stay in the same relative positions but the whole thing squishes and stretches, twists and turns.
In the larger animals, this is accomplished with muscles and hydraulics.
Do you know if the mechanism has been worked out for Loxophyllum? Can you point to an explanation?
--Rik
I am struck that this thing moves like a mollusk -- all of the innards stay in the same relative positions but the whole thing squishes and stretches, twists and turns.
In the larger animals, this is accomplished with muscles and hydraulics.
Do you know if the mechanism has been worked out for Loxophyllum? Can you point to an explanation?
--Rik
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bernhardinho
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In the larger animals, this is accomplished with muscles and hydraulics.
Do you know if the mechanism has been worked out for Loxophyllum? Can you point to an explanation?
--Rik[/quote]
Hi Rik,
my smart books say, that this hasn't been 100% worked out yet. First of all you have to distinguish between locomotion and bending movements, the former being performed by the cilia of course, the latter are supposed to function similar to the contractions of Vorticella stalks for instance. This is known to work not on an ATP linked mechanism like muscles, but on a calcium ion pump. Now, Loxophyllum does indeed feature a net of microfilaments throughout the cell, but it is not known how the filaments interact to perform the torsion like movements and also the counterpart mechanism to contraction is not clear, probably just the inner pressure of the cell. So it might have to do with hydraulics in fact.
Well.still a lot to discover there
Bernhard
Do you know if the mechanism has been worked out for Loxophyllum? Can you point to an explanation?
--Rik[/quote]
Hi Rik,
my smart books say, that this hasn't been 100% worked out yet. First of all you have to distinguish between locomotion and bending movements, the former being performed by the cilia of course, the latter are supposed to function similar to the contractions of Vorticella stalks for instance. This is known to work not on an ATP linked mechanism like muscles, but on a calcium ion pump. Now, Loxophyllum does indeed feature a net of microfilaments throughout the cell, but it is not known how the filaments interact to perform the torsion like movements and also the counterpart mechanism to contraction is not clear, probably just the inner pressure of the cell. So it might have to do with hydraulics in fact.
Well.still a lot to discover there
Bernhard
Funny you shouls say that, it actually resembles a mollusc!rjlittlefield wrote:Simply wonderful!
I am struck that this thing moves like a mollusk -- all of the innards stay in the same relative positions but the whole thing squishes and stretches, twists and turns.
--Rik
Canon 5D and 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope
