portrait

Description:

Portrait of the marine nassulid ciliate, Paranassula brunnea (Fabre-Domerge,1885) Fauré-Fremiet,1963. The cell body is an elongate cylinder rounded anteriorly and posteriorly. Size varies from medium to large (100-300 µm). The genus is distinguished by the unique oral apparatus, which lies in the anterior 1/4 of the body. There is an atrial depression within which two short polykinetids are located. This atrium leads to a stout cytopharyngeal basket. The somatic ciliature is composed of closely spaced uniform longitudinal kineties. There is a short straight preoral suture. There is a long centrally located vermiform macronucleus. A single contractile vacuole is located in the mid-body. Collected from a commercial saltwater aquarium in Boise, Idaho. DIC.