My First Stentor

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:35 am

Found this in the jar of water I got at the Mississippi River the other day. I had looked all over this drop of water and didn't see anything but this one big urn looking thing sitting by itself. Then, after looking over the whole slide, I went back to the urn, and there was this stentor attached to it, and a paramecium swimming around near it too. I only got one blurred shot of that though.

All of these were edited for levels, brightness and auto color. They had a real blue cast to them.

Bob Ballantyne · Post by **Bob Ballantyne** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:03 am

This is probaby Stentor coeruleus whose blue pigment stentorin is related to the species negative phototaxic reaction to light and as a defensive mechanism.

This species has been observed and reported in research (and I have personally observed this) to expel its pigment when in contact with an "enemy."

This is a sort of microscopic life version of a squid's defensive mechanism.

Bob Ballantyne

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:08 am

Thanks for the ID Bob. He became free swimming as the water started to dry up, but I did not notice any squidlike fluid release while watching. He was pretty active the whole time though.

Bob Ballantyne · Post by **Bob Ballantyne** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:09 am

Below is a photo I took of a Stentor in the water sample where I observed one releasing stentorin into the water after being bumped by a larval cyclops.

Obviously the color's not as good as in your photo. This was lifted from a video image.

Bob B

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:30 am

It looks like a faint liquid in liquid cloud shadow near the mouth?

I did see mine lose what I thought at the time was one of it's lips. A big piece of material peeled off just below the cilea line and floated away. But it was solid, not a fluid at all. Very strange to watch. Here is a video of this stentor and it shows it ingesting a diatom, but I must have missed the lip coming off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXK0ePLA6nE

As for the colors in mine, I did a lot to clean up small junk in the water near it, and the color probably isn't right at all.

Bob Ballantyne · Post by **Bob Ballantyne** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:34 am

I think the cloud you are referring to is blurred cilia. This was not from a high shutter speed still shot but rather lifted from a video.

Also, they only expel the blue pigment when "attacked."

Nice video of yours. I'm sure you noted that Paramecium swimming around.

My photos from a water sample from a Pennsylvania lake.

Bob B