portrait, bell

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 and can be seen at the top of this cell, as can many 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. This cell has the trochal cilia. Daughter cells are produced near the base of the parental cells and have the trochal cilia so that they can swim around when they break from at the end of division. Most peritrichs have a large curving macronucleus, and this is also evident towards the top of the cell. The stalk, not evident here, contains a contractile filament, and when this contracts it coils up a bit like a spring. Differential interference contrast.  This picture was taken by David Patterson, Linda Amaral Zettler, Mike Peglar and Tom Nerad from cultures and other materials maintained at the American Type Culture Collection during 2001. Image copyright: D. J. Patterson, L Amaral-Zettler, M. Peglar and T. Nerad, image used under license to MBL (micro*scope).

Vorticella

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Vorticella in this collection

Vorticella feeding, long exposure

Vorticella portrait, bell & stalk

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	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, from Cumloden, Massachusetts, USA
Vorticella, from Cumloden, Massachusetts, USA	Vorticella convallaria, from Kunstforme der Natur by Ernst Haeckel	Vorticella, from Audley Bottom	Vorticella, from Lake Toolik, Arctic Alaska	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