a marine tintinnid Ciliat with a "stone house"

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Franz Neidl
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a marine tintinnid Ciliat with a "stone house"

Post by Franz Neidl »

Some tindinnids collect various particles on the outer surface of their lorica. As I have a strong imagination I see the ciliate like a bricklayer who is choosing the right bricks.

Certainly I am wrong with my imagination, but they must have some "intelligence", because there are also tindinnids they collect only diatoms or only biger stones.
The tintinnids with stones are generally near the coast i.e. in the neritic plankton.
The lorica of this tintinnid was 350 µm long.

Franz


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Wim van Egmond
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Post by Wim van Egmond »

Gorgeous images, Franz! I am not sure if it is a matter of intelligence but they are certainly picky.

Wim

Ecki
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Post by Ecki »

Very interesting and great images!

Regards
Ecki

René
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Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:22 am

Post by René »

Nice work Franz. Our part of the North Sea is poor for tintinnids, so for ID I'm not too sure. We do see Tintinnopsis cylindrica overhere, but the tip generally is far more robust, compared to your spec. My guess this is Tintinnopsis radix.

The accompanying Chaetoceros is C. pseudocurvisetus, the apertures (openings between the cells) are very typical and it is just about visible in the top of the first pic to separate it from C curvisetus and C debilis.

Best wishes, René

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