- Alga: Coleps
- Order: Prorodontida Corliss, 1974
- Family: Colepidae Ehrenberg, 1838
- Genus: Coleps Nitzsch, 1827
Coleps is a barrel-shaped ciliate, notable for its regularly arranged ectoplasmic shields, or platelets, of calcium carbonate. The covering with the scales is sometimes completely or partly absent immediately after an amitotic division (direct cleavage of the nucleus without the formation of mitoses). This is clearly visible in the accompanying video. Cell division took approximately 45 minutes. The color of the cell is usually brown and is less determined by the color of the food consumed than with other ciliates.
The macronucleus is central and the contractile vacuole is terminal in the cell. Coleps is known as the hyena of the ciliates because it can often be found on dead and decayed organisms, but Coleps also attacks living, wounded organisms. In addition, Coleps is also a detritus eater and consumes bacteria and algae. It is one of the most common of the ciliates.
Length 50 to 80 microns.
No comments:
Post a Comment