Oxytricha sp. (?), binary fission

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Gerd
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Location: near Cologne, Germany

Oxytricha sp. (?), binary fission

Post by Gerd »

Image

I'm always fascinated in watching binary fissions of freshwater ciliates !
This one happened within 15 minutes from my entry upper left
to the final division of the ciliates lower right.
Identification is a little difficult, maybe Oxytricha ?
Objective 40x, DIC, flash.
Thanks,
Gerd

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Excellent photos! I have watched these things by the hour, too. Much more fascinating than an aquarium...

--Rik

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

These are wonderful Gerd. I too have watched this many times. Studying your photographs, I have been trying to figure out which Oxytricha this may be. Judging from your scale bar I would guess them to be about 100um to 120um. O. fallax is shown to be about 150um and O. bifaria at about 250um (Jahns). The roundness of the cell suggests O. ludibunda at about 100um which is my guess. Jahns also shows O. bifaria and O. ludibunda both to have a slight buldge at the anterior, which is more pronounced in O. bifaria than in O. ludibunda. However the buldge is clearly seen in the parent cell in the upper right image you have in the composite. :)

Hypotrichea has always been a headache because there are so many of them and trying to count ventral and caudal cirri drives me nuts. :lol: But judging once again from the shape, size, and the buldge at the anterior I think O. ludibunda maybe close. :-k

It would be interesting to read what our other members may have to say on this. :D
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Wim van Egmond
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Post by Wim van Egmond »

Very nice series, Gerd!
I have once seen this happening and I thought the nucleï were dividing as well (see first image). But that is not the case. They are like that all the time.

Wim

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