Some kind of paramecium?

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:04 am

Perhaps Paramecium bursaria? Seems full of symbiotic algae rather than ingested food. About 110um long. Sedated in 2% lidocaine hydrochloride solution. 40/0.75 + DIC - 20 image stack.

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:27 am

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:05 pm

Beautiful! How big was the creature? It seems pretty slender, and the algal endosymbionts are rather large in proportion to the body. I wonder if it might be Paramecium chlorelligerum? I'd like to hear what Martin Kreutz has to say about it.

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:18 am

Ta Bruce. It's 110um long. P. chlorelligerum does look a better candidate.

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 4:21 am

We don't see the very long caudal cilia Martin mentions in his paper ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22827482 ), but I suppose they might be below the focal plane. The curious body-form might be consistent with P. chlorelligerum's "swimming shape".

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:54 am

Whatever it is-the pic smashes me!!

Fantastic!

Cheers

Bernhard

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:27 am

_Michal_ · Post by **_Michal_** » Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:27 am

Very nice. Great details

Protos · Post by **Protos** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:44 am

Great Pic !

Martin Kreutz · Post by **Martin Kreutz** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:55 am

Hi Beatsy,

Bruce draw my attention to your post. Unfortunately the shown specimen is deformed by the effect of the used lidocaine (contractile vacuole doesn't work any more). So the shape is not the native one. Furthermorer there is no feature visible what could confirm P. bursaria or P. chlorelligera, e.g. the caudalcilia, the nuclei and the contractile vacuoles (with or without supportive vacuoles). So it is not possible to decide what ID your specimen has.

Martin

Bruce Taylor · Post by **Bruce Taylor** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:33 am

Thanks for having a look, Martin!

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:04 pm

Thanks for the comments all. Martin, thanks for looking and commenting too. I guess I've amply demonstrated that the quest for 'pretty pictures' can often remove the science instead

A useful reminder. Cheers.