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Paramecium caudatum [1] is a species of unicellular protist in the phylum Ciliophora. [2] They can reach 0.33 mm in length and are covered with minute hair-like organelles called cilia. [3] The cilia are used in locomotion and feeding. [2] The species is very common, and widespread in marine, brackish and freshwater environments. [4] [5]
Paramecium feed on microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, and yeasts. To gather food, the Paramecium makes movements with cilia to sweep prey organisms, along with some water, through the oral groove (vestibulum, or vestibule), and into the cell. The food passes from the cilia-lined oral groove into a narrower structure known as the buccal ...
The tiny (0.6 μm) marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, discovered in 1986, forms today an important part of the base of the ocean food chain and accounts for much of the photosynthesis of the open ocean [140] and an estimated 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. [141]
Paramecium bursaria is a species of ciliate found in marine and brackish waters. [1] It has a mutualistic endosymbiotic relationship with green algae called Zoochlorella . About 700 Chlorella cells live inside the protist's cytoplasm and provide it with food, while the Paramecium provides the algae with movement and protection. [ 2 ]
Paramecium are adaptive to many environments due to the diastole and systole movements of the contractile vacuole, which either let in or expel water from the cytoplasm depending on the environment. The micronucleus and macronucleus together contain all of the genetic information for the organism.
Paramecium aurelia demonstrate a strong "sex reaction" whereby groups of individuals will cluster together, and emerge in conjugant pairs. This pairing can last up to 12 hours, during which the micronucleus of each organism will be exchanged. [3] In Paramecium aurelia, a cryptic species complex was discovered by observation. [4]
The peniculids are an order of ciliate protozoa, including the well-known Paramecium and related genera, such as Frontonia, Stokesia, Urocentrum and Lembadion. Most are relatively large, freshwater forms that feed by sweeping smaller organisms into the mouth. They have weird life cycles, and in many cases do not even form resting cysts.
Added a label for the buccal overture, a structure frequently mislabeled as the cytostome on diagrams of Paramecium. For an accurate representation of these structures, see: Ralph Wichterman, The Biology of Paramecium, 2nd Edition, 1986 (fig. 1.3A, on... 19:47, 5 June 2017: 1,142 × 1,007 (149 KB) Deuterostome: Lengthened buccal cavity, for ...