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Coleps is one of nature's little scavengers. It will attach dead and decaying metazoa, eating residual pieces of tissue on cast off exoskeletons or attaching organisms that are wounded. It will also eat detrital material. This species retains chloroplasts from algal food - a phenomenon referred to as kleptoplasty. Chloroplasts are derived from blue-green algae that have survived symbiotically within other cells, and kleptoplasty exploits aspects of the autonomy of these organelles. Phase contrast microscopy.
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Coleps is a ciliate and one of nature's little scavengers. In nature it can eat remanent tissue attached to cast off exoskeletons of arthropods, or will attack wounded organisms. Here about 50 cells crowd round the remains of a Daphnia.
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Opening to oral region at the anterior end of Coleps hirtus. Corrugated lips containing lamellae (l) surround the atrium. The oral region is bordered by cilia. Rods extend inward (see Figs. 12 and 13) from these cilia. Toxicysts and mucocysts lie in the cytosol. An algal cell, enclosed in a smooth membrane is also present. EM taken on 3/24/69 by R. Allen with Philips 300 TEM. Neg. 14,800X. Bar = 0.5µm.
This image is available in Richard Allen's collection.
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In vivo portrait of Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho.DIC.
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In vivo portrait of Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, idaho.DIC.
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Squashed specimen of Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho.DIC.
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Infraciliature of Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho.Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Infraciliature of Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.The anterior apical cytostome is ringed by an undulating membrane composed of dikinetids (light blue arrowhead).Just posterior to this is a ring of pectinelles composed of two closely spaced dikinetids (yellow arrowhead).The monokinetids of the somatic kineties are located in notches in the cortical plates.Each somatic kinetid (red arrowheads) is associated with a smaller posterior parasomal sac.These parasomal sacs can be easily confused with kinetids in siolver stained specimens. Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho.Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Armor plates of squashed Coleps hirtus (MÃLLER,1786) NITZCH,1827.CP=circumoral tier of plates.AE= acute end of anterior secondary tier (AST) plates.AMT=anterior main tier of plates.PMT=posterior main tier of plates.PST=posterior secondary tier of plates. The caudal tier of plates is not visible here.PR= plate process. W= plate windows (pretzel-shaped in the \""hirtus type\"" of armor plates).Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho.DIC.
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The anterior is upper left. The sark sausage-like structure in the cell is the macronucleus and two associated micronuclei are also visible. The posterior structure is the contractile vacuole. The body is evenly coated with cilia. Phase contrast microscopy.
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The mouth of this ciliate lies at the apex of the cell. It is underlain with long extrusomes that are used in the capture and ingestion of food - Protodon may eat detritus or other protozoa. The granular structure inside the cell is the macronucleus. Differential interference contrast optics.
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Differential interference contrast image. Mouth an the anterior end (top), elements of the contractile vacuole complex at the posterior end.
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The ciliate Holophrya, with a polar mouth which is surrounded by stiff rods (nemadesmata) that can be used to manipulate food into the body. Normally eats algae and detritus. Differential interference contrast.
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Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg,1831). The yellow arrowhead indicates the three dorsal brush rows of short cilia. DIC
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Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg,1831). The yellow arrowhead indicates the three dorsal brush rows of short cilia. DIC
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Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg,1831). The yellow arrowhead indicates the three dorsal brush rows of short cilia. Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Anterior view of Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg,1831). The yellow arrowhead indicates the pattern of the silverline system. The red arrowhead indicates the dorsal brush rows.The silverline system in the circular area around the cytostome is more densely stained than in the rest of the cell.Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg,1831). DIC.
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Dorsal brush of the enklitoloph-dexiotrop configuration in Holophrya ovum (Ehrenberg, 1831).Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991).Brightfield.
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The yellow arrowead indicates the faintle visible anterior ends of the trichites supporting the cytopharynx. the red arrowhead indicates the dikinetids of the undulating membrane. Only the dikinetids on the left of the cytostome are stained here. Stained by the silver carbonate technique (see Foissner, W. Europ. J. Protistol., 27:313-330;1991). Brightfield.
