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Database Central
Wastewater Organisms Database
Ciliates
Subphylum Ciliophora, Class Ciliata
Purpose of Web Page
The purpose of this web page is to present the physical characteristics of ciliates. The ciliates are a large and diverse group of freshwater and marine organisms. They are the most structurally complex of all the protozoa. They are usually solitary and motile, but some are sessile and colonial. They range in size from 10-12 µm to as large as 3 mm. Ciliates are multinucleate--that is, they possess at least one macronucleus and one micronucleus. Ciliates are covered by a cell membrane or pellicle, which may be very thin or may form a thickened armor. Class Ciliata is divided into three subclasses. Subclass Holotrichia--ciliation usually uniform throughtout body, buccal cilia inconspicuous or absent (example, Paramecium). Subclass Spirotrichia--very few body cilia some with cirri (cilia that have become hardened), example, Euplotes. Subclass Peritrichia--conspicuous buccal cilia, mostly attached stalked ciliates (example, Vorticella).
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Stalked ciliates belong to the Class Ciliophora and to the Subclass Peritrichia. Peritrichs are characterized by having cilia at their apical pole (mouth) As the name implies, they have a stalk which they use to anchor or fix themselves to an object. |
This particular ciliate resembles a stalked ciliate except that it has no stalk. These two ciliates are confined within a bell-shaped housing. The entire body of these ciliates contracts within its shell. This photomicrograph was taken using a phase contrast microscope at 1000x magnification. |
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| This photo of a fixed stalked ciliate was taken at a magnification of 1000x. Notice the cilia located at the apical end. There are two different types of stalked ciliates. Contractile stalked ciliates and fixed stalked ciliates. | This is a bouquet of fixed stalked ciliates. Suctoria can be seen sticking out of the colony. |
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| This is a Gram stain of a free-swimming Holotrichate ciliate. Notice the cilia surrounding the entire body. this photo was taken at a magnification of 400x. | This is Euplotes, a Spirotrichate ciliate. Notice the short cilia which have become hardened (cirri) and are used for locomotion. |
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Date Page Last Revised: 6 January 2000
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