EXPLANATION OF PARAMECIUM IMAGE:
The picture includes four images of Paramecium
from different viewpoints. Paramecium has a rather complex shape with a slight helical
twist and a ventral "mouth". It is a single cell and is covered in a firm
pellicle from which many cilia project. The cilia act like tiny oars and propel the
paramecium along and drive food into its "mouth". The food (mainly bacteria)
progresses along the gullet (bluish, slightly "S" shaped feature) where
it collects at the end in a newly forming food vacuole. This eventually buds off
from the gullet. Food vacuoles circulate around the interior of the paramecium and
finally dock with a fixed hole and the rear ventral surface where the undigested
material is ejected. Paramecium has characteristic stellate contractile vacuoles
fixed dorsally at front and rear which remove excess water.
PARAMECIUM -
classification
(taxonomy) from
ITIS
