Help with an ID, please

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:20 pm

I ran across something unusual (to me) yesterday and made a little video. Any idea of the genus? Or of what was going on with the two that seemed so friendly with one another? Thanks in advance for your help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qui6ibeX5GE

piermicro · Post by **piermicro** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 2:34 am

Great as usual.

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:01 am

It seems to be a hymenostome of some type. Close examination of the mouth is needed. At this magnification, the mouth has an Ophryoglena look, to me, but some kind of tetrahymenid is possible. The flexibility is not very diagnostic. Many ciliates become very flexible as their environment deteriorates, and some become more mutable when converting to a feeding form.

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:26 am

Thanks, piermicro, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

Bruce, thanks for your informative reply! As for the two cells that separated in the video, any thought about whether it was fission or conjugation?

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 7:23 am

billporter1456 wrote:Thanks, piermicro, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

Bruce, thanks for your informative reply! As for the two cells that separated in the video, any thought about whether it was fission or conjugation?

Conjugation, most likely. Fission in ciliates is nearly always transversal (there are a few exceptions to that).

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 8:15 am

Hi Bill, as always, interesting video.
Bruce: is it possible to be a reproductive cyst?
Similar to the one that is seen in colpoda?

Ecki · Post by **Ecki** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:00 am

Once again a poetic and nice video. For identification the resolution is too low.

May have been two preconjugates with incompatible mating types.

billporter1456 · Post by **billporter1456** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 12:07 pm

Ecki wrote:Once again a poetic and nice video. For identification the resolution is too low.

May have been two preconjugates with incompatible mating types.

Thanks, Ecki! Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to get sharper views of some of these guys.

I thought your idea that they may have been preconjugants who "discovered" that they were incompatible mating types (despite having already rented a motel room, turned down the covers, and turned off the lights) was clever and possibly the correct explanation. My only thought was that the stress and shock of being transferred to a slide caused conjugants to break off the process of conjugation.