This ciliate was found in Loughborough Lake, north of Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
This single-celled organism looks a great deal like a multi-cellular rotifer with its rings of cilia near its mouth.
Questions:
- How does this single-celled ciliate move?
- Can you think of other types of movement that are similar to the one you see here?
- For what reasons do you think this critter needs to move?
- How does this ciliate’s movement compare to other single-celled organisms?
- How are the cilia (the tiny hair-like fibers) arranged on the organism? Do the cilia in different locations have different functions?
- Each cilia is tubular in shape. What other shape (metapattern) do groups of these cilia form? How do this new new shape function?
- Can you find any cycles in the video? How do these cycles compare to other cycles you know about?
- What is the advantage to this ciliate for having a tube-like shape? How does this critter use its shape?
- What else can you find out about this critter?
Meanings:
Condylostoma:
condylo comes from the Greek word meaning rounded
-stoma comes from the Greek word for mouth
So, condylostoma means a critter with a rounded mouth.