Ciliates Gallery

Photomicrographs by Bruce J. Russell

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DILEPTUS
Vorticella is a stalked ciliate.
Vorticella stalk retracts
Suctorian feeding
Large ciliate - Bursaria
         
Blepharisma
Suctorian gives birth
Predatory ciliate - Didinium
Trichodina, symbiont on Hydra
         
Euplotes Euplotes oral region Euplotes nucleus
         
Paramecium bursria Lacrameria, a large ciliate Strobolidium animated water vacuole

The Ciliated Protists - Phylum Ciliophora

This Gallery is about amazing story of the world's most complex cells - cells that are complete organisms - cells with fascinating behaviors including a unique type of sexual reproduction. Many ciliates are larger than a great number of multicellular organisms, such as rotifers, that share their watery environments. You can easily see species such as Stentor, Spirostomum or Bursaria if you have them in a jar of pondwater - even without the aid of a microscope.

In this gallery, we will explain how cilia work, and we'll demonstrate ciliate feeding and escape behaviors. We'll examine Ciliate anatomy and we'll show how one predator ciliate, Didinium, captures and engulfs another ciliate, Paramecium, even though the prey is larger than the predator. We'll explore the diversity of ciliates, and look at the behaviors and biology of many of the classic ciliated protists, including Stentor, Vorticella, Paramecium, Bursaria, Blepharisma , and Euplotes.

The Diet of Ciliates

Also, download our video clip about ciliate diversity. Large file- 6.87 MB,

To learn about our video programs on this and similar topics see:
Branches on the Tree of Life: Protists (video) and Branches on the Tree of Life:Protists DVD