Vorticella Under the Microscope

Vorticella Campanula is a fresh water stalked ciliate and usually remains attached to water weeds, other large suspended particles and sometimes to the body of a large zooplankton.

In the video below captured by Ravindra Bakare, Associate Professor of Zoology at Kisan Veer Mahavidyalaya in Wai Dist Satara, Maharashtra, India, stagnant pond water was collected near the University and placed under a biological microscope. Bakare works for the fresh water protozoan diversity around Wai and captured this Vorticella video under the microscope by using a 2 megapixel eyepiece camera at 45x magnification.

Notice that the Vorticella has a ciliary tuft around its peristome and is shown producing a water current for feeding purposes. The unidirectional water current produced by cilia can be clearly seen in the video. The myoneme or stalk is highly contractile when it is attached and covers the area around the radius. 

Thanks to Professor Bakare for sharing this beautiful microscopy work!