Rumen ciliates : Isotricha spp. The upper pic is focused on the middle of the ciliate.
You can see the vestibulum and the cytostome. Macronucleus and micronucleus are beneath
the cytostome. There also are vacuoles and characteristic starch grains.
The lower pic is focused on the ciliate surface. The cilia form an hairy
impression.....
There are thousands of ciliates in one small drop. I had to made very thin
samples to take shots with only one single ciliate to see...
About 2% of the weight of rumen content are ciliates, if you have 100 kg of rumen content,
there are 2 kg of ciliates !!
Objective 40x, DIC, flash.
Thanks,
Gerd