Orange marine ciliates

fpelectronica · Post by **fpelectronica** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:39 pm

Hello
I have seen many marine ciliates are orange-yellow. Why?
http://youtu.be/SxluOO9Odhk
http://youtu.be/OWyQYfpOw4M
http://youtu.be/XCNW3Uo7s-c
Francisco

phytoplankton · Post by **phytoplankton** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:12 pm

Neat videos.

Perhaps they are consuming algae such as Rhodomonas and others that are high in carotenoids such as astaxanthin?

fpelectronica · Post by **fpelectronica** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 4:46 am

Hello
Thanks for your reply and information
regards
Francisco

Starshade · Post by **Starshade** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:53 pm

I have loads of red ciliates, rotifers and water bears in Antarctic samples but I suspect the colour is because I used medium that's rich in iron. I just saw same species of rotifers everywhere and they were not red.

What makes me think it could be algae related phenomena is that using the same media I get normal colours of animals in some cultures. So not actually sure.

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:43 am

Very nice video Francisco. As always, your videos also have many other interesting microbes in them, than just the main actors.

It would seem that most color changes in microbes would be food related.

fpelectronica · Post by **fpelectronica** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:07 am

Starshade, Mitch, Thank you for your comments
Francisco