WunderkanoneExploring the Microscopic World

I found this colony of Stentors between moss leafs. The images were taken under polarized light with a retarder.

Stentor, polarized light

Stentor, darkfield

Nassula ornata - focus on the cortex. The pore of the contractile vacuole and the oral apparatus (nasse) is visible.

This is a peek inside Nassula ornata. You can see the contractile vacuole, the cyrtos and the nucleus. Nassula feeds mainly on cyanobacteria. Food vacuoles that contain cyanobacteria change their color with the digestion progress: green --> purple --> brown --> gold.

Paramecium bursaria

Paramecium bursaria cilia

ma - macronucleus, mi - micronucleus, oa - oral apparatus, cv - contractile vacuole, amp - ampullae, cca - collecting canals, fv - food vacuole, cry - crystals, zc - zoochlorella, zcid - deviding zoochlorella

Paramecium bursaria, fluorescence

Vaginicola sp. with symbiotic algae (zoochlorella) coming out of his lorica.

Histobalantium natans