Brackish water ciliate ID

[dragonblade]

I found this ciliate in brackish water from a river in South Australia, Australia. Just wondering if anyone would be able to identify it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ2tAAr2RoE

[eward1897]

You seem to have a Euplotes sp. It is in the hypotrich class of ciliate protists. Hypotrichs have some of their cilia fused into fewer, larger diameter "cirri" which they use a bit like arms and legs. The group includes Euplotes, Oxytricha, Gonostomum and the sometimes purplish Uroleptus. Euplotes is fairly common and is fun to watch as it "walks" around on surfaces, using its cirri like legs.

If I attached them correctly, here are two old photomicrographs of the same Euplotes a few seconds apart. In one it is seen sideways as it 'walks' up a strand of algae. Later it is seen flat while swimming. Yours looks tipped partly sideways, not quite flat.

I am a self taught amateur and if a real expert corrects any errors I make, I'll be grateful.

Ed in Minnesota, USA

[dragonblade]

Thankyou for the identification. I just looked up Euplotes and there's no surprise that it occurs in both fresh water and seawater since this one was found in brackish water. This concept of fused cilia is interesting. Would that be those spikes / spines I can see protruding out of it's body? Unfortunately, your photos did not load. I would like to see them for comparison.

[rjlittlefield]

eward1897, please see the Image Hosting Steps, especially steps 5 and 6 that inject the tags and file path into your posting text.

dragonblade, I believe these are the photos that eward1897 intended to show:





--Rik

[dragonblade]

Thankyou Rik. Eward, those are cool photos. I can really see the fused cilia in action with the walking image. I did see mine walk along some vegetation in some other footage I took. Very brisk walkers.