Peritrichia

Group portrait of the gregarious but non-colonial peritrich ciliate, Pseudovorticella monilata (Tatem, 1870) Foissner and Sciffmann, 1975, all in contracted state (anterior apical view). Stalks are not visible here. The prominent pellicular blebs consist of paraglycogen, a carbohydrate storage product. From freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho. Differential interference contrast.

Group portrait of the gregarious but non-colonial peritrich ciliate, Pseudovorticella monilata (Tatem, 1870) Foissner and Sciffmann, 1975. Some individuals have separated from their contractile stalks. From freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho. Differential interference contrast.(Tatem, 1870) Foissner and Sciffmann, 1975

Portrait of the peritrich ciliate, Pseudovorticella monilata (Tatem, 1870) Foissner and Sciffmann, 1975. Designated as Vorticella monilata in many compendia, Foissner assigns this organism as the type species for the genus Pseudovorticella. Pseudovorticella is distinguished from Vorticella by silver staining which reveals a lattice-like silver line system in the former and circumferential lines without vertical connections in the latter. Pseudovorticella also has two contractile vacuoles (only one of which is seen here). The species is distinguished by circumferential rows of prominent pellicular blebs consisting of paraglycogen, a carbohydrate storage product. The macronucleus is J-shaped, lying in the long axis of the cell. The stalk consisting of a sheathed myonemes is seen here. Feeds on bacteria. From freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho. Differential interference contrast.

Pellicular detail of Pseudovorticella monilata (Tatem, 1870) Foissner and Sciffmann, 1975. The species is distinguished by circumferential rows of prominent pellicular blebs seen well in this image. They consist of paraglycogen, a carbohydrate storage product. DIC.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles . If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. Daughter cells are produced near the base of the parental cells and have the trochal cilia so that they can swim around when they break from at the end of division. The stalk, contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Phase contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles and can be seen at the top of this cell, as can many food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. This cell has the trochal cilia. Daughter cells are produced near the base of the parental cells and have the trochal cilia so that they can swim around when they break from at the end of division. Most peritrichs have a large curving macronucleus, and this is also evident towards the top of the cell. The stalk, not evident here, contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Differential interference contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This image was taken with a long exposure and illustrates the currents created by the action of the feeding cilia of a single cell. Modified dark ground, long exposure.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. Daughter cells, like the one shown here, are produced near the base of the parental cells and have the trochal cilia so that they can swim around when they break from at the end of division. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Differential interference contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. Daughter cells are produced near the base of the parental cells and have the trochal cilia so that they can swim around when they break from at the end of division. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Differential interference contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Phase contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. These cells attached to the outside of a Nostoc colony. Bright field, closed condenser iris.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. This species with endosymbiotic algae. Phase contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Cells with expanded form are usually referred to the species V. campanula. Phase contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Cells with expanded form are usually referred to the species V. campanula. Phase contrast.

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-ah) is a peritrich ciliate with a contractile stalk which attaches the cell to the substrate. This is a contracted cell and the feeding cilia have been withdrawn into the cell, Phase contrast. Material from Nymph Creek and Nymph Lake, thermal sites in Yellowstone National Park, photograph by Kathy Sheehan and David Patterson.

Vorticella, common peritrich ciliate. The stalk contains a contractile element called the spasmoneme - seen as a dark line in the picture. Oral cilia form a wreath around the broad flattened end of the cell. Phase contrast illumination.

Image of the silverline system (argyrome) of Vorticella (Linnaeus, 1767). The fine parallel transverse striations have no interconnections. In the similar genera, Pseudohaplocaulus (Warren, 1988) and Pseudovorticella (Foissner and Schiffmann, 1975) the transverse argentophilic striations are connected by irregularly spaced vertical lines giving the silverline system a mesh-like appearance. In this instance the silverline system was tained by the silver carbonate technic technic (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol.27, 313-330; 1991). Usually silver carbonate and protargol methods do not stain the silverline sytem. The silverline sytem is most often stained using sliver nitrate methods. Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho. Brightfield.

Single attached cell. The stalk can contract and this cell is extending itself. The cell feeds using the cilia at the broad end of the cone-shaped body. Phase contrast microscopy.

Vorticella: A common sessile protozoa with long stalk. This image was taken by Krishnakumar B. from a anaerobic bioreactor for organic rich wastewater treatment in the Regional Research Laboratory-Trivandrum (CSIR-India).