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Vorticella
several cells

Vorticella (vort-ee-sell-a) the iconic peritrich ciliate. The feeding cells in sessile peritrich ciliates have lost all of the somatic cilia and only have the feeding cilia. The feeding cilia form a wreath which extends around the front of the cell and descends into a narrowing buccal cavity. This cavity ends at the cytostome where food is packaged into food vacuoles. If the cells become unhappy, they produce a temporary wreath of basal cilia (trochal cilia), break away from their stalk and use these to swim. The stalk contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Cells with expanded form are usually referred to the species V. campanula. Phase contrast.  This picture was taken by David Patterson and Aimlee Laderman of material collected from a freshwater Atantic white cedar swamp at Cumloden near Woods Hole in Massachusetts, USA in spring and summer, 2001. Image copyright: D. J. Patterson and Aimlee Ladermann, image used under license to MBL (micro*scope).

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Vorticella

From the collection Cumloden, Massachusetts, USA

Description of Vorticella: As with the majority of peritrich ciliates, Vorticella has a bell-shaped body and attached to the substrate by means of a stalk. The stalk is contractile, there is an inner element called the spasmoneme that can contract very rapidly. Contractile elements also extend into the body of the cell so the body rounds up when the cell contracts. Normally, there is a wreath of feeding cilia at the unattached end of the cell, and these create a water current from which small particles of food (mostly bacteria) can be removed and ingested. Vorticella cells usually reproduce by forming a daughter cell that has a basal wreath of cilia. This cell breaks away from the parent, and swims around as a cylindrical telotroch larva. Eventually it settles, attached by the back end, withdraws the basal wreath of cilia, secretes the stalk and changes into a more conical shape. Occasionally, when conditions are not satisfactory, cells may sprout a basal wreath of cilia, break away from their stalk, and swim around settling at another location. This is a solitary species, in that the cells do not form colonies, although it is not unusual to find many individual Vorticella cells living side-by-side and to form a cluster. The behavior of contracting is quite distinctive and because of this, we know that this is one of the first free-living protozoa to be described (by Antony van Leeuwenhoek €“ in the 17th century).


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    Vorticella in this collection



    Vorticella

    bell

    Vorticella in other collections



    Vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella monilata
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Condylostoma vorticella
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Paravorticella
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Pseudovorticella monilata
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella aequilata
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella alba
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella campanula
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella convallaria
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella cupifera
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella elongata
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella extensa
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella fromenteli
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella hamata
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella microstoma
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella myeri
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella octava
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella picta
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella putrina
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella similis
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella striata
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella vernalis
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella vestita
    , from Protozoan biomonitors in China


    Vorticella
    , from Microbes of Mammoth Lake


    Vorticella
    , from Anaerobic and micro-aerophilic protozoa


    Vorticella convallaria
    , from Activated sludge - sewage treatment


    Vorticella convallaria
    , from Images of Richard Allen


    Pseudovorticella pattersoni
    , from Protsville


    Pseudovorticella pattersoni
    , from Protsville


    Vorticella
    , from Protsville drawings of freshwater protists


    Vorticella microstoma
    , from Lake Pontchartrain microbes


    Vorticella
    , from Limnic and marine Protists of Northern Germany and the Alps


    Vorticella
    , from Limnic and marine Protists of Northern Germany and the Alps


    Vorticella
    , from Limnic and marine Protists of Northern Germany and the Alps


    Vorticella
    , from SML Intertidal Pool


    Vorticella
    , from SML North Pond


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Images from Schewiakoff, 1896


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Images from Schewiakoff, 1896


    Pseudovorticella nebulifera
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Pseudovorticella nebulifera
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella citrina
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella microstoma
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella microstoma
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella campanula
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella campanula
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella campanula
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella hamata
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella chlorostigma
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella patellina
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella patellina
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella convallaria
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Vorticella picta
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Linostomella vorticella
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Linostomella vorticella
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Linostomella vorticella
    , from Ciliates from Ehrenberg -- 1838


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella chlamydophora
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella chlamydophora
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella citrina
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella citrina
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella chlamydophora
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella
    , from American Type Culture Collection


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella chlamydophora
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Pseudovorticella monilata
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Phascolodon vorticella
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella convallaria
    , from Kunstforme der Natur by Ernst Haeckel


    Vorticella
    , from Audley Bottom


    Vorticella
    , from Lake Toolik, Arctic Alaska


    Vorticella
    , from American Type Culture Collection


    Pseudovorticella monilata
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella
    , from Prawn Farm, Queensland, Australia


    Vorticella
    , from Lake Toolik, Arctic Alaska


    Pseudovorticella monilata
    , from Freshwater and Terrestrial Microbes of Idaho (USA) and Elsewhere


    Vorticella
    , from Athens, Georgia, USA


    Vorticella
    , from Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA)


    Vorticella
    , from Lake Toolik, Arctic Alaska


    Vorticella
    , from American Type Culture Collection


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