Unknown giant ciliate with colored “vacuole” bodies

Apr 10, 2017 • 10:25 PM UTC

California, USA

140x Magnification

Microorganisms

Manu Prakash

I am a faculty at Stanford and run the Prakash Lab at Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. Foldscope community is at the heart of our Frugal Science movement - and I can not tell you how proud I am of this community and grassroots movement. Find our work here: http://prakashlab.stanford.edu

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In the same location as last week (Duck pond swamps); Scott, Guillermina and TA’s from Bio60 uncovered a treasure trove of microcorganisms. Here I will list what I have images so far; in a serial fashion.
First up is this beautiful giant ciliate. Over several hours of imaging; it had slowed down its swimming speed to an extent that I could track it. The big thing I was fascinated by was the vacuoles; some of them dramatically colored. It’s ciliary rows are clearly visible, and so are the cilia. I am also able to see the oral grove. Also; the organism is quiet flexible and at times dramatically deforms as it pushes on dirt.

For tracking a moving ciliate, I often keep the phone on the edge of a table and move the foldscope slide using the far two ends of the foldscope. With this technique; I can stably track micro swimmers for minutes/hours.
If you can help identify this ciliate; please leave comments here with suggestions and places for me to start.
Cheers
Manu