The slipper and the cannibal

Applause IconSep 23, 2025 • 4:09 AM UTC
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Laks Iyer

Human observer of life. https://sukshmadarshin.wordpress.com

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If you have read this far, I have your attention. For those who dont know, I am obsessed with ciliates. Two of my absolute favorites are Tetrahymena vorax and Paramecium sp. I have made many videos of T. vorax. For example, see this post on T vorax where I describe its cannibalistic tendencies

https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/post/transfer_33626

I have many videos of Paramecium, also called the slipper animalcule. Here is one with a detailed microanatomy
These two are also very easy to grow. I use a grain of wheat in a petridish of mineral water for most ciliates. The best thing is that these two ciliate cultures remain for long on my bench. My T. vorax cultures are a few years old. Perhaps even 5 years or so, whereas I have maintained large volumes of Paramecium for months. This one too arose in a culture made from a pond sample. Today, I was playing a bit with the Foldscope 2 and wanted to have an idea of the relative sizes of the two. So I mixed them in a cavity slide. I would say Paramecium is about 4-5 times longer than the simple form of T. vorax. Even the macrostome form of T. vorax is no match to the giant Paramecium. What do you think?
Dont you love the upgraded microcosmos site. One can easily access all your old posts in a slick interface.

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